


Safety Off (A MacCready Story)

by MemoriaMente



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Lore - Freeform, Maccready - Freeform, Romance, Safety off, Safetyoff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-20 00:44:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 95,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MemoriaMente/pseuds/MemoriaMente
Summary: Betty, an MP for the United States Armed Forces, burdened with past atrocities wants nothing more than to forget it all, but the past is never truly gone. Discovered by Nora and MacCready. Nora takes Betty to Sanctuary, and helps her begin her new life, a life Betty didn't believe she deserved, but a life she would graciously accept, curious as to why fate chose to grant her a second chance. To protect her, Nora hires MacCready to be this impulsive, hot-headed, foul-mouthed young woman's hired gun, and as time goes on, they can't help but find parallels in each other through their journey, as Betty tries to adjust to this new, broken world, a world broken by her own two hands.





	1. Awake

**Author's Note:**

> This story talks a lot about the lore of Fallout, particularly focuses on the military pre-war, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, look up Kim Wu and his background, and the information on the war with China, and why the Great War happened in the first place. America was behind a ton of evil things before they were wiped out by The Great War, things that no one talks about. I will also have brief mentions of PTSD, anxiety and depression. This is going to be a relatively happy story with some sad moments, so again, warning: If you’re sensitive to the story of Kim Wu, don’t read this, there will be mentions of the elements in that story in this one.  
>    
> This still takes place in the same time Fallout 4 takes place. Enjoy!

A new life.

Something I didn’t know I wanted. Something I was really surprised to be granted. Why me? I wasn’t a good person. I wasn’t a particularly loving one, either. Hardened by the army at just the ripe age of eighteen, spending the following two years just trying to get by as a soldier, before waking up in a cold refrigerator Nora called Vault 111. Apparently, her and her family had signed up for this. Me? I had no idea what I was doing there. I wasn’t supposed to be in Vault 111, but that’s where I found myself. 

I remembered waking up in harsh, jagged gasps, a muffled, female voice on the other side of the glass. It was so frozen over I couldn’t see the person’s face, just the soft outline of a thin figure in blue. The figure had come closer until I could make the outline of the hair that framed her pale face, her worried eyes locked with mine.

That’s when life as I knew it changed.  
\--  
\--  
\--

“Oh, God, Jesus, Nora, you didn’t look harder when you checked this vault the first time you left? I hate vaults. I’d rather take my chances up on the ground than down here, cramped with a bunch of other people.” He let out a sigh. “Now, here you go, helping random people again. Great.”

The male voice stirred me, slowly, as I regained consciousness. It was a slow process, and these voices were way too loud for my liking. God, why did my head feel so fuzzy?

“Stop whining, MacCready. I had no idea this pod was here! I just saw the false door, and realized I had no bobby pins to pick it, so I had to come back later. Now, this pod is caved in where the latch is. Mac, can you shoot at it while I push the latch on the other side?”

Pod? I looked at the area surrounding me. Wait, what the hell? Why was I in here? I looked at my hand now, the blue tight outfit that wrapped around my wrists causing me to flinch in surprise. The yellow seam of this outfit had started to crack in certain places, and it definitely seemed aged, but this was the first time I recalled wearing the thing. 

Holy crap, was this. . . A vault suit? Was I in a vault? 

As if answering my question, the male spoke, his words thick with irritation. “Oh, sure.” The voice spoke sarcastically. “Because my favorite thing to do is waste time and expensive ammunition saving people from Vaults.” God, could you stop arguing and maybe open the damn door? I was getting claustrophobic, and my curiosity on what the hell I was doing in here hadn’t been satiated yet. Maybe they were Military personnel releasing me from this. Wouldn’t be surprised if Rosemary was playing a stupid prank on me. She knew just how much I hated Vault Tec. 

I couldn’t exactly force myself out of this thing. I wasn’t even fully awake yet, but that was because I had nowhere to move from this cramped sitting position, and I had just barely opened my eyes. My body still had to adjust. God, how long have I been in here for?

I turned my head, the movement felt creaky and foreign as I felt the muscles groan in protest at the movement, I let out a jagged gasp once I realized I couldn’t breathe properly in this fucking thing.

“You waste time and ‘expensive ammunition’ to save me constantly, and I am a Vault-Dweller, so, yeah. I’d say you’re tailor-made for the job, given your experience,” The woman slyly commented. I tried to take a breath, but I didn’t get as much as I’d hoped, leaning my head back against the headrest in this stupid pod. Yep, I was going to die before they opened up the pod. Great. These were the last words I’d hear: Bickering between these two clowns. 

“Tch,” the male scoffed under his breath before I heard a loud BAM! 

When the woman, ‘Nora,’ popped the latch, the sound of the pod popping open sounded like crunching metal, grinding with its high-pitched squeal. After a few violent pulls from the tiny woman, the final seal popped, the cryopod’s door lifting open, chunks of ice cracking off. 

I was met with cold air to the face, and both people flinched as I practically came to life in front of them, eyes wide open and mouth desperately opening to suck in the stale air. I took in a long breath of air, an action I soon regretted as I instead found myself in a coughing fit with a severely dry throat. I let out a pained gasp, the lightheaded feeling intensified for one solid moment before I realized the woman was asking me something. I frowned and turned to look at her as she spoke, and this time, her words became clear to me. 

“Are you alright?” The woman who opened my pod spoke. Her eyes were worried, slightly wrinkled, telling me she was probably in her late twenties or early thirties. She was dressed in a very tight vault suit, it looked aged, dusty, cracking at the yellowed, aged and zippered seam on the front of her suit like mine. I collapsed on the ground in front of her, my limbs felt numb as if they were constricting, my gasps coming out in shorter and harsher breaths. Oh god, why was I in so much pain? How long had it been, and why did my muscles feel so atrophied? “I’m so sorry,” she spoke in a whisper as she wrapped something warm around me. A blanket. It looked old and battered. I wrinkled my nose in disgust at the fabric, which basically looked like a used rag, and I winced at her unfamiliar touch. “If I had the slightest idea that there was another survivor in here behind a locked, false door, I would have broken in earlier.”

What was going on? Where was I? Who was this lady? Who was her male companion? What the fuck was going on?

So many questions to choose from, but I couldn’t stop one from slipping from my mouth. “Where the fuck am I?” I asked hotly. “And why is my body on fire?” 

“You’re in Vault 111. You were hidden behind a locked, false door, like I said, and I’m really sorry I didn’t find you at first, I-. . . I mean, you’re not even in Vault Tec’s records. At least not on a terminal that’s still functional.”

I blinked in confusion, my eyebrows furrowing together as I peered at her. “Because I didn’t buy a damn vault. I have less of a clue than you do on why I’m even here in the first place.” 

Nora turned to see her companion, who finally came into my view. He wore a green hat with two bullets lodged underneath the band and a tan duster that covered most of his backside, ending at his thighs with jagged torn ends. The duster had obviously seen better days, as it was ripped at the left sleeve to reveal the left, green sleeve underneath the coat. He also wore green pants, bullets holstered on his left thigh, and a small pouch on his right thigh. 

Besides wondering why the hell he didn’t just go to Fallon’s Department Store and buy a new damn Duster that wasn’t literally torn to shreds, an uncharacteristic thought also wandered in my head: Damn, he was cute. The raggedy, dirtied man sure had a cute face. 

Nora hesitated, her eyes on this man. She was looking at him for confirmation, but he just rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Look, if you’re looking at me to make a decision for you, I’m not gonna, because we both know you’re going to make a decision regardless of what I think. Now,” He turned to look at me now. His eyes upon my small, shaking frame caused me to slide my hands along my arms to cover myself. When I looked down at my body, I was wearing the same blue vault suit that Nora wore. Why was I wearing this? “What’s your name? What makes you worthy to come with us? Hm? How do we know you’re not dead weight?”

I hesitated. Nora turned to her companion with a scowl at his harsh words.They didn’t bother me much: He had a right to know whether or not I was going to get them killed. But who were these people, anyways? 

All at once, the memories came flooding back. I clutched the blanket tighter to me, my muscles felt like they were tearing with every movement. 

The cryopod made a faltering noise as it went offline, the lights in the room flickered on and off around us as something fell off of the pod, landing next to my hand. A chunk of circuitry. Well, that’s nice. Almost died as a popsicle.

Not only was the cryo-pod sealed shut from whatever had dented the latches, it was obviously malfunctioning. Just a few more days of that. . . Hell, a few more seconds of that. . . My muscles were already screaming in agony, and my fingers were so frozen that as they wrapped around the blanket, they felt like they weren’t my own. I clenched my fists, the blood slowly coming back to my hands. 

I was lucky to be alive.

Although “lucky” is a weird word to use, especially when you didn’t want to survive in the first place. 

“I’m Betty Jett. I’m an MP in the United States Armed Forces. I’m twenty-one years old, and I was actually injured in combat. The last thing I remember is passing out as three medics tried to cauterize my leg wound, and-” Oh, man. How could I forget that? I quickly moved the blanket to check on my thigh, hissing at the movement of my muscles. Of course, since I was clothed, I couldn’t see a damned thing on my leg. “I’m acting like a fool today. Damned cryopod fucked with my head. Give me a second, this is all so much to take in, so much to remember.” I squeezed my eyes shut, and surprisingly, the two people in front of me just stopped talking to let me recuperate. I let out a deep breath. “I know the bombs dropped. Chinese soldiers using stealth armor attacked my team and I. . . .” My jaw clenched. “They killed them all, and then, one of them had sliced my leg open. Struck my artery. I was supposed to die, I was bleeding to death, and then I was. . . “ I entangled my fingers in my hair. Then I was. . . .Blank. God, what happened after that? “. . .Here.” I spoke, blinking hard as I looked up at the two. “So, Vault-Tec obviously failed, huh? What’s it been, a week? And already I had a cryo pod malfunction?” I snickered. “Man, we knew about the different vaults, being in the army, but me, I knew more than most about what they were actually using them for. Couldn’t fool me. I told the general I’d rather die than be a guinea pig, but look at that, they sold me to Vault Tec for experimentation. Hah, sounds about fucking right,” I shook my head. When I looked back up at the two, they were still exchanging nervous glances before Nora spoke up. “How’s the war looking? America back on top? Hopefully everyone found shelter from the bombs.” Our nation had prepped for this with fallout shelters, Vaults, and even Pulowski Preservation Shelter Pods. 

The woman’s eyes softened now as she examined my face, her mouth finally opening after a moment of clear hesitation. She exchanged a glance with the younger man next to her, who looked. . . Surprised? He was looking at me as if I had two heads. 

Nora spoke now. “Betty, the war ended. . . A little over two hundred years ago. You and I were frozen this whole time, except for me. I woke up just a week ago,” Nora spoke slowly.

It was as if my mind had shattered at that moment. My breathing stopped as my eyes widened, my mouth parting as I examined her face with a stupid look of shock on my face. She was lying. She had to be. Two hundred years?

I put my head in my hands and let out a shaky gasp. Two hundred fucking years? What the hell happened? How come no one let me out? Why were the both of us stuck here? What happened to the other Vault Dwellers? And again, what the fuck is going on? 

Two hundred years. Two hundred years. Two hundred fucking years with me on ice. Everything I owned was probably gone forever, everyone I had known was long dead. Everything was different, and here I was, lying on the floor in a Vault I didn’t even want to be in. 

She was lying. She had to be. Two hundred years? There was simply no way. That all had to be false information. This all had to be some simulation to see if I’d break under pressure, right? Some of our military training involved realistic simulations, this had to be one.  

I turned to look at my surroundings, the scattered papers, the broken terminal, the dead, giant bugs on the ground. . . Oh, god, were those. . . Giant roaches? And then one glance to the left confirmed the truth. A skeleton in a heap in the corner of the room, dressed in a lab coat. 

I hurriedly tried to gather my thoughts, but it was near impossible. The uncomfortable cold and the pain in my muscles was just too much already, and now on top of that, the crushing reality that everyone I knew, everything I worked towards, everything I achieved. . . .Friends, family, lovers. . . . Gone.

I blinked hard. I never had a strong relationship with anyone, really. My family stopped talking to me the minute they weren’t legally responsible for me anymore, and most my fellow soldiers were cold, cruel and untrustworthy to say the least (besides Rosemary). It was as if there were so many secrets, so much deception going on in our government and armed forces, that no one wanted to be friendly. It was just professionalism, nothing more. Well, at least that’s how I saw it, and that’s how I played it. Just professional,and my duty as a soldier was above my desire for friendships. Now, sitting here as I knew I was all alone in this new world, I was happy that I didn’t make real friends. It made this hurt so much less. That was the only positive outcome I could think of. 

But now, the war was over. The war I worked so hard to help win, for a country whose citizens perished before success could even reach us. I failed my mission as a soldier. I was weak, and that’s why I was where I was. Add on the fact I was almost certainly a traitor to my country, but that was something I was trying hard not to think about.

I swallowed hard, my jaw clenched. My body language must have changed quite obviously enough for the two strangers within my reach, because they both took a cautious step back, fingers twitching for their holsters just in case.

I was about to speak, convince them I wasn’t the enemy, but did I care at this point? I felt useless. Unaccomplished. And, well, pathetic. I was the only wounded soldier who survived because I was hurt as soon as this whole mess kick-started. I went down like a fucking wimp.

Something suddenly caught my eye once I shifted my ashamed gaze away from them. Underneath the desk, I could see a small, orange tape popping out. A holotape. 

I stood up, ignoring the screaming of my achy muscles and picked it up. Nora had come closer to me now, causing me to tense, but when I turned, I saw she was bearing gifts. She held up a brown, aged, rounded sleeve-like device to me, and I hesitantly took it. Wait a second, I knew what this was. “Is this. . . A pip boy?” I hadn’t seen one in person before, just in all of Vault-Tec’s awful propaganda. The posters, the commercials, God, and what they did to Nuka-World. Might as well call the Galaxy Zone ‘sign-up-for-Vault-Tec-or-die’ zone.  
I almost didn’t want to take the Pip Boy from her. The thought of owning a Vault-Tec device put a bad, bitter taste in my mouth.

“I have one of my own,” she spoke. “The pip boy I gave you was one I found on. . .Well, them,” she spoke, pointing to the pile of skeleton and lab coat in the corner of the room. Christ. What a mess.

I snorted. “Vault-tec is a shitty company, and I hate promoting them, but. . . “ I put the pip boy on my wrist as it started to turn on, gaining all of my stats and health. “If this is what you give me after your experience above ground for a week, I’ll trust you know what you’re doing. Besides, they’re all dead anyways. Right? There’s no way they could have survived the fallout.” 

I put the holotape in my Pip Boy, nervously waiting for the recording to play. It might have a clue to why I’m here in the first place.

“. . . This is Doctor Peter Wellingham of Vault Tec, updating on subject number 12314. Betty Jett. Before the Great War, the military agreed to give us wounded soldiers for experimentation. Sadly, Ms. Jett is the only specimen we were able to acquire before the bombs fell. Of course, there was some collateral damage. We lost a few doctors and soldiers who were bringing the wounded specimen to our labs, but Betty was lucky enough to be our only veteran survivor. We have been conducting our research for our prototype cell regeneration cryopods to start a regeneration process while the subject is dormant, causing fatal wounds to heal inside of the pod without the possibility of the subject dying.

Unfortunately, Betty has experienced much more collateral damage from, well, resisting, as she became conscious once we sutured her wound enough for the pod to do the rest. She was obviously in excruciating pain, but we are saving our Med-X for the staff. So far, upon the first check, we removed Betty’s vault suit to find that the internal bleeding had indeed stopped, and instead of swelling or causing more damage to the surrounding veins, capillaries, and tendons, they have instead started to heal, deeming this project successful. We have finally uncovered the secret behind forced cell regeneration. Unfortunately, Vault-Tec has not gotten back to us since the bombs dropped, and with the war just starting, we probably won’t have the means to stretch this technology or important data to other vaults as well. But, for now, until Vault-Tec becomes fully operational once more, our secret stays with us, doesn’t it, Betty?” 

I shuddered at his voice. I felt violated. These scientists experimented on me, let me suffer, forced me into experimentation at the word of my fucking employers, undressed me and dressed me God knows how many times, and kept me on ice? I didn’t consent to any of that, and now I was stuck with all of these questions, questions I didn’t have the energy to ask yet.

I couldn’t believe what I just heard. Why on Earth were so many people trying to keep me alive? And why on Earth were these two people in front of me willing to stay here until I figured everything out, before possibly taking me under their wing? 

I didn’t want that. I wasn’t in the mood for pity. 

“You. . . .You can leave me. I’ll find my way out,” I spoke. “Thanks for uh. . . “ I bit my lip, Nora caught my gaze, but I quickly shifted my eyes. “Saving my life, I guess. I don’t have any cash on me for your troubles.”

“Cash?” Macready smirked. “We’re not looking for your old lady money.”

I glared at him. “What the hell are you talking about? Money is money, no matter how old it is. I should have some in my fatigues, wherever they stored them in this God-forsaken vault. If you can find them, all the cash is yours. I’ll scavenge for more later once I figure everything out.”

Nora had a gentle smile on her face now. “No, you’re coming with us,” Nora spoke firmly. “And don’t worry, I’ll teach you what I know so far. First lesson, we don’t use cash anymore. We use bottle caps as currency. Oh, and those,” she pointed to the dead roaches. “Are radroaches. Radiation took a toll on all of the living creatures out in the Commonwealth. Let’s go, let me introduce you to a few of my friends.”

MacCready groaned. “Damn, Nora, we have things to do.”

“Those things can wait,” she spoke sternly to him. “We have to help her.”

I grimaced at this. “I’m no damsel. I’m a soldier. I know how to defend myself, alright? I know how to drive. I can get around. That’s not a problem. I just. . . .” I stopped speaking when I noticed they were snickering now. I could feel my face heat up. “What, what could I have possibly said this time?” I snapped. “Something funny about driving now?”

“No need for the hostility,” Nora spoke, her grin fading. “I just don’t think it’d be wise to leave you on your own. Clearly, there are a lot of things you have to learn about the world now.”

I let out a sigh. Sounded like my mother. And that was two hundred years ago. If there was something I hated most, it was being treated as if I was an idiot. “If I thought I was going to be lectured by an adult the same way I was pre-war about ‘not understanding the world,’ I would have grabbed that gun in MacCready’s hand and offed myself already.” Surprisingly, he smirked at my words. Guess he approved of what I said. 

Nora gave a curt laugh. “You’re acting like you have a choice. Come on, let’s go.” She started to walk away. Stunned, I stood up, but before I started to walk, I slid my hand along my thigh, the one that had been open like a cabinet just ten minutes ago. Well, it felt like ten minutes ago. Damn, it was going to take a while to get used to the whole two-hundred year gap.

I shuddered at the tingly feeling in the scar. Other than that feeling, my thigh felt fine. I just. . . I didn’t want to actually zip my suit open to look at it. I wasn’t ready to look at it. I was so sure I was going to die, it would probably give me a panic attack in front of these two people. My head, on the other hand, well, it felt dull, and throbbed whenever I moved too fast. I didn’t think I had any long-term damage from the Vault. If I did,we probably would have noticed by now, but besides temporary amnesia, it looked like I was back to normal.

I survived the fucking nuclear war. Holy shit.  

I removed my hand from my leg and began to walk. It felt forced, but I was glad to get my legs moving again. I hadn’t even noticed Macready was holding something out for me. 

I grabbed the object from him. Med-X. I injected myself, letting out a sigh of relief once I felt the slow, miniscule, yet noticeable relief of my frozen muscles. “Thanks.” I spoke. I had only been conscious for a few minutes, but long enough for me to know that what Macready just did was uncharacteristic of him.

As if he read my thoughts, he spoke up harshly. “If you think I’m gonna continue babying you, you’re wrong. I don’t have time to babysit you.”

I shrugged off his words, just grateful that I finally received the relief my body needed. 

We walked to the ramp, and I was about to walk past the two yellow bars when MacCready held his arm out to stop me from walking. I was about to make a sound in protest, but the ramp began to elongate, a loud, beeping noise erupting, the large cylinder-like machinery that stuck to the vault door, pulling the gear shaped hunk of metal to the right side, revealing the exit. The ramp suddenly clunked hard onto the ground as it was now safe to walk across the ramp and through the hole in the wall. We walked along the blue hunk of metal and down the rusted, faded stairs to the right, and I stared in wonder at the large gear-shaped elevator before us that slid to the ground before the large, holed gate lifted up to allow us to step into it.

We stepped onto the platform as the gates shut behind us, the blaring sound echoing through the vault as a computerized female voice spoke, “Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for choosing Vault-Tec,” the gear we stood on shivered as it began to lift us back up to the surface. As we neared closer to the surface, it opened up, blinding light washing over my body, blinding me temporarily as it stung my eyes for the first time in over two hundred years. Nora whispered, “I know, it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust.”

I breathed in the air and coughed. The purity of the air had deteriorated greatly, and it even taste different. I gagged, my eyes narrowing as they adjusted, colorful spots lined my vision. My head raised as I took in the sight of the land for the first time, and it was the final nail in the coffin.

I collapsed on the metal beneath me, I let out a shaky gasp. Dead. All of it. The grass, the trees, the houses collapsed in the close distance, the crumbled buildings far off in the horizon. This was it, this was the new world.


	2. Sanctuary

Two days had passed since my arrival back to the surface. Nora had given me various items after we left the Vault, asking if they were mine. Amongst the Military Fatigues, little cash I had, my badge, and my tags, I had painted black Combat Armor that surprisingly aged very well. I wore my armor everywhere, as I didn’t trust everyone just yet.

We were in a settlement called Sanctuary, not far from Vault 111. I silently thanked the stars above that the settlement was so close by and not miles away. They had broken the news that cars were no longer functional, and the only form of transportation was walking.

I let out a sigh, rolling my eyes, my mind flashing back to the slightly used, ‘new’ car I had purchased at eighteen. I remembered how hard I worked to make sure it kept running smoothly.  “Spent two years paying that fucker off, only had two payments left, and now I find out that was all for nothing. Cool. Just my luck.”

“Sounds rough,” Sturges spoke, hammering away at one of the Sanctuary houses in an attempt to fix the broken walls of the house. 

“Yeah,” I murmured, leaning back against the white pillar at the ramp of the driveway. “I guess.” 

“Hey, your problems matter just as much as anyone else’s,” Sturges spoke reassuringly. I took no offence to anything he had said, but it looked like he thought I did.

Didn’t matter if they did to him, I didn’t think my problems were worse than anyone else’s, and if they were, well, tough shit for me then. I’d deal with them myself. With a sigh, dismissively waving my hand, I flashed him a tiny smile of reassurance. He smiled back before turning his focus back to the house. I stood up on my feet now, brushing myself off. “Learned the hard way that no one’s out to help anyone but themselves. Besides you guys. I just can’t fathom how so many people could form together to do something positive for the world,” I shrugged. “But perhaps I’m just cynical. What can I do to help around here?”

Sturges put away his hammer and turned to me with a bright smile. “See? It’s contagious. Some people just love helping others, and others have the capacity to learn how to.”

I scratched my neck with a sigh. This crowd was a lot more goody-two-shoes than I was used to. 

“Just say the word,” I muttered, my interest in helping not as sharp as it was two seconds ago. I didn’t want to be pegged as a helpful person when I knew damn well I wasn’t. I just made things worse.

“Well, since you know how to handle yourself, you can patrol Sanctuary and keep an eye out for any threats.”

I sighed in relief. Good, something I was good at. “Consider it done,” I spoke before taking the 10 mm standard, unmodified pistol he handed me. I guessed he didn’t notice that Nora had handed me a gun that outclassed this standard one by a longshot. Not only did this type of gun have baaad memories, it was an even worse gun. I stared at it for a couple of seconds before blinking, looking back up at him. “No offence, but . . . No thanks.”

“Actually,” I heard Nora’s melodic voice hum as she walked over to Sturges and I. “I have something you’d like. It’s a great gun, I just can’t justify carrying over 50 lbs of guns at once.” She handed me a gauss rifle, fully customized and upgraded. I let out a whistle. This was impressive. “It takes 2mm ec’s. They’re expensive, so here’s 2,000 rounds to start you off until you either find another gun, or buy more ammo for this one.”

“I admire your handiwork,” I spoke in surprise, examining every inch of the gun. Surprise surprise, I was quite the gun nut back in the day, so this gun was a sight for sore eyes. I was used to guns with a lot of kick, and it warmed my heart to know Nora did, too.“ You would have done alright as a soldier.” Although I hated the job I had in the past life, nothing stopped me from admiring the way we all handled ourselves. We were definitely well trained, and more than knowledgeable on gun and armor modifications. 

Nora smiled before walking off, yelling at Dogmeat, the German Shepherd, to stop digging up the carrots we had just planted by the Sanctuary sign. The loyal pal just lifted his head up at his human’s command, barking in comprehension before walking with his ears flat to his doghouse. He didn’t like being scolded. He was just such a good boy. He reminded me of Colt, my German Shepherd back before the bombs dropped. He was the most loyal dog anyone could have asked for, and I wish I had been able to take him with me. 

I shook the sad thought from my mind and let out a long sigh, my eyes adverting to scan the cracked, raised street and the collapsing houses. I wanted to take this time to soak in my surroundings. I walked slowly, passing each house with admiration. Nora lived here before the war? 

She was obviously richer than I’d ever been, but then again, she was also older, and she had been married. Still, times were tough for a lot of people before the war ended, and she stayed successful, so this world must have really been a complete 180 for Nora. She probably wasn’t used to this hard-knocks environment. 

I was used to a life of hard knocks, so I was adjusting smoothly. So far, Preston had explained the highlights of the Commonwealth: Diamond City, Goodneighbor, the settlements, the honest, hard-working people trying to get by. Once he started telling me how it was our job to help people, I broke the conversation and told him I had something I had to do. I had to walk away from that conversation, even though Preston had a stunned, wide-eyed look by my deflection, because I wasn’t even sure if I could help myself, and he was asking for me to what, save the world?

Hardly a doable task. I tried to before, but I was supporting the wrong damn cause, and by the time I realized it, there was no going back. Stuck by contract, and although they weren’t having me sign any paperwork, it still felt like a contract, agreeing to help the Minutemen. I just woke up a few days ago, and people were asking things of me I wasn’t ready for.

Also, not a task I was tailor-made for. I spent my whole life fighting for myself. The one time I tried to do the noble thing and fight for my country, my country ended up selling my soul to the damn devil. Moral of the story: Trust no one but yourself.

Save the world? No thank you. 

I walked to Sanctuary’s bridge, frowning. This bridge was damn small, and I had a hard time believing cars would actually drive this narrow bridge on the daily. The width of the bridge would only allow one car at a time. The bridge was now collapsed, the left chunk of it caved in towards the water, the right side sturdy, but suspicious. I definitely wasn’t going to stand on the bridge for long every time I crossed it. I feared one day my damn bad luck would result in me in the water with a board through my chest from slipping through the cracks.

I’d definitely want to fix this, but not now, I had no idea where to even find the supplies to fix this bridge yet. Nora might have had some extra wood, but it wouldn’t be enough to repair this entire bridge.

I turned to look at the roads now, in my own little world as I invisioned what this place must have looked like pre-war. 

I looked at the roads that wrapped through Sanctuary, tilting my head to the side in confusion. The roads also looked like it wouldn’t support two-way traffic, unless you drove against the curb. How the hell did people drive back and forth without driving on each other’s lawns or smashing right into each other?

Yuck, the neighborhood was probably one of those “It takes a village” types, one of those neighborhoods where everyone is friendly, and everyone is understanding. People who’d pull into driveways to let people drive past them instead of honking and yelling . With your neighbors this close, you were almost forced to be friendly. “Howdy neighbor, how’s Karen doing?” “Fine, Jim! I see you’ve got a new car! That’s swell!”

I was glad I never had that type of neighborhood growing up. Hell, I was glad no one really paid attention to me at all my entire life. Laying low meant less delusional, societal bullshit. Less of a need to fit in. 

“Let me see how good you are with that,” another familiar voice spoke, cutting me out of my thoughts. I looked up to find MacCready’s eyes on my Gauss Rifle. I rolled my eyes.

“Well, MacCready, if I’m good enough for your standards, will that be enough for you to fuck off?” I snapped. MacCready was one of the people who still doubted my ability to shoot, but I guess I also couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t seen me fire it yet.

He sucked in a breath, his head tilting slightly back as his eyes met mine, his surprised, yet hardened gaze on me. He frowned now before rolling his eyes and scoffing. “Wow, it’s a wonder there’s no ring on that finger, all the men must have been dying to hear that rude tone of yours.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Keep talkin’, pretty boy,” I muttered before aiming my gun towards something off in the distance. It didn’t settle right with me. I crouched, focusing my aim, and once I realized what it was, I charged up the gauss rifle and fired. I was a shit sniper, but the creature wasn’t too far away, and this Gauss Rifle was no joke.  
I hit my target. The creature let out a throaty cry as it instantly fell to the ground. Luckily, the low level of stealth I had was enough to knock that thing out cold while blindsiding it. 

MacCready took a few steps forward, standing to my right. I saw him in the corner of my eye as he looked off into the distance, his eyes trying to find whatever I just took down. His head moved as he tried to look around the bushes. “What did you just shoot?” MacCready asked bluntly after his eyes couldn’t find whatever it was I took down. I couldn’t blame him, it had fallen behind a bush, becoming undetectable to me, as well. 

I searched my mind for sarcastic replies until I settled on one. “Maybe if you were a better shot, you would have seen it first,” I spoke, I knew it’d get under his skin.

From the look on his face, I was correct. His blue eyes were on me, narrowed, his mouth a tight-lipped grimace. “Or maybe you’re just senile, on account of being so old.” He shot back. Smart mouth, always. 

My blood was boiling now. “If you’d kept your eyes open, you’d see I shot a feral ghoul.” I had seen one with Nora on our way to Red Rocket Truck Stop, the close-by settlement just over the bridge. She explained how ghouls are horribly irradiated humans, they just lived longer, nose-less with flesh that looked rotted, and couldn’t have children. She said that ferals were ghouls, but without the ability to reason, mutated to the point of lunacy. She told me that all feral ghouls were dangerous, but not all ghouls were. She told me about a place called The Slog, a Minutemen settlement farm run by ghouls, explaining to me that ghouls deserved just as much respect as humans did. I wasn’t judgmental, so I agreed without Nora having to convince me. I could whole-heartedly agree that ghouls were people, too, and feral ghouls were, of course, a danger. 

MacCready seemed a bit surprised I knew what a feral ghoul was, as it had been my second day in this new world. Just this morning, I was complaining about my car, an outdated concept. The corner of his mouth twitched before sliding into a grin. I already felt the vein in my head throb in irritation, I knew he wasn’t going to give up, and I wasn’t in the mood. “Oh, whew, thank God you were here. One feral? We owe you our lives, brave soldier.” 

I scoffed at him. “Yeah, next time I’ll just wait ‘till you’re asleep, and lead the next feral to your bed to surprise you. I’m sure it won’t look so weak when its teeth are ripping your jugular from your neck.”

He flinched at my words, his skin turning paler than before. He muttered something under his breath before walking away, clearly defeated. I sighed and continued my patrol.

\--

Nora tried to convince me to join the Minutemen, but I declined. I had trusted the pre-war armed forces, and look where I ended up. From what I could tell, the Minutemen were a small group, built from the ground up by Preston Garvey and Nora, and even though they told me they had once been glorious, I knew it would take a lot of work to restore it back to its former glory. Time I didn’t have.

Then again, what did I have time for? What was I looking to find out here? What purpose I was trying to seek out in The Commonwealth? Maybe it was time to live a different life, to move on from the past. . . To prosper in the new world.

Either way, I had decided I wasn’t ready to give up. I had a second chance, whether I liked it or not. I still had an entire lifetime left, and I was just dying to live it. 

Nora could tell I was uninterested in her faction, at least for now, and although she was the General of the Minutemen, she found no offence. She mentioned the Brotherhood of Steel, but when she mentioned them, I could see MacCready roll his eyes. Still, I was interested in seeking them out as well in order to better understand my options, but the thought of rushing to join some type of crew felt nauseating to me after the last organization I was in gave me up for experimentation. I’m sure no one could blame me. I didn’t really trust anyone enough to agree to anything, I just wanted to explore this new world, and I had everything I needed: Medical supplies, guns, ammo, food, water, etc. The only problem was I had no idea where to start, and no one to travel with, since Nora was going to work on her settlements in order to rebuild The Minutemen. It was a great and noble task, but I wanted to explore, not build.

“MacCready,” Nora called. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the weapons workbench near the settlement’s workshop, scowling at Mama Murphy who just tried to get some Jet from me until I told her to beat it. I turned from the delusional woman to look at the two. MacCready lifted his head up to look her in the eye. “I think it’s time we called it quits. But, I’m going to give you three hundred caps to be Betty’s companion. What do you say?”

God, dammit! Really? I scowled at Nora with zero attempt to hide it, not even when I saw MacCready turn to look at me in my peripheral vision. “Well, who could argue with a bag of caps?” He responded. I shifted my eyes to look at him, a devious smirk had replaced the scowl he had before. “Looks like you’re stuck with me. Try to keep up, alright?”

I stood up from my spot on the ground. “Listen, dickhead, I was in the military. I know how to kick ass,” I snapped. I hated when people doubted my skills. 

He didn’t flinch at my hostility, just gave another smooth, degrading remark. “Great story about the olden times, grandma, but you lasted two seconds in the war before you almost died.”

My hands clenched into fists. “Excuse me?”

Nora sighed now. “Okay, maybe this wasn’t-”

“No,” I quickly spoke. “I’ll swallow my pride.” I didn’t want to be alone in the wasteland, even if it meant linking up with the likes of MacCready. Ugh, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this though, knowing he’d be critically observing me with every shot I took. . . God, like learning how to drive with your parent in the passenger seat. 

MacCready turned to look at Nora now, his smug, irritated expression softened into a worried one. “You stay safe, alright?” 

Nora smiled at him. “Thanks, Macready. This one’s got a potty mouth, but it better not rub off on you. You remember the promise you made to Duncan: No cussing.”

“You know me, Nora. Been keeping my promise. . .Well, for the most part.” MacCready slyly replied. Duncan? Who was Duncan? 

She turned to me now, her hand gently squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. Had it been anyone else who touched me, I would have slapped their hand away, but I found comfort in Nora’s actions. “Stay out of trouble, will you?” The look on her face told me that she knew I was physically incapable of such a thing. No trouble? Aw, but what was the fun in that?

“No promises,” I spoke with a smirk, she rolled her eyes and gently pushed my shoulder now. I snickered. I grabbed my bag from my room now, stuffing a few extra Stimpaks just in case. 

“Hurry up!” MacCready yelled from outside with a groan. “I hate waiting.”

I rolled my eyes, moving slower now on purpose. That bastard could wait. After about five minutes of sitting on my bed defiantly, I walked out of my house to find him smoking a cigarette, his eyes narrowed when they landed on me.

“Took longer because I said something, huh? I’m not an idiot,” he rolled his eyes before taking another drag. “You’re already irritating me and we haven’t even left yet. Wasting my time.”

I grinned wickedly now, folding my arms. “No wonder you look so old. It’s because you smoke.” I folded my arms.

He chuckled at my insult with a roll of the eyes. “Clever, short stuff,” he said, smoke filtering out of his mouth as he spoke. He was taller than me, and he already wasn’t the tallest guy around. I felt my blood boil at his comment, but he began speaking again before I could reply. “Are you sure you’re twenty-one? Because you look seventeen,” he spoke, when he was done speaking, he exhaled the last of the smoke. 

I didn’t reply, just let out a frustrated groan. God, I wanted to hit him. “I look like a normal twenty-year-old,” I seethed. “And you’re short for a guy, so hah, burn.” He had clearly won, he just shook his head with a chuckle before finishing his cigarette. 

I began walking towards the exit of Sanctuary, MacCready following behind as I checked the screen on my Pip Boy. So far, I only had three marked locations I had been to (Vault 111, Sanctuary, and the Red Rocket Truckstop), and a few on my map that I hadn’t visited yet: Diamond City, Goodneighbor, Graygarden, Vault 81, The Slog. All locations Nora had briefly mentioned. 

Man, I could really use a drink. The last few days were nothing short of ‘crazy’. “So, Macready, bring me to the best bar in the Commonwealth.” It had been a spell since I’d last drowned in my sorrows, something that seemed to be very common before the war, when I was stuck in that awful, awful job. 

“Aah, now we’re talking,” he responded with a sly grin. “I’ll take you to the greatest bar ever, but I promised Nora I’d take you to Diamond City first, to get you whatever you need to get you started. They have a bar, but it isn’t as great as Goodneighbor’s.”

I turned to him with a grimace. “What? You promised her what? What am I, a child? I can dress and clothe and feed myself. I don’t need someone to mother me. I’m an adult, dammit. . . “ I groaned, but as the words were coming off of my lips, I felt ridiculous. I was barely even old enough to drink. Well, back in my day, at least, when identification cards existed. “And you, how old are you? 28, right? How come you’re in charge?” I knew he was younger than that, I just liked the look on his face when I treated him like he was older, but it still irritated me that it didn’t piss him off quite as much as his mirroring comments pissed me off.

“Excuse me?” He scoffed. “Look, while you were playing popsicle in that cozy little cryo, thingy, whatever, I was working my ass off to make a living out here. I grew up in the Wasteland, not in sunshine and rainbows like you did before the war,” he pressed, but after a moment, his tone softened, as if he realized he was being a bit too rude towards me. “I’m twenty-two,” he finally answered reluctantly.

I felt a lump in my throat now. Sunshine and rainbows?  “MacCready, fuck you. You don’t have any idea what I went through before the bombs dropped,” I turned my gaze so I couldn’t see his curious eyes inspecting my visage. “And you’re not gonna have any idea if you keep talking to me like I’m four years old.”

He let out an almost defeated sigh. “I’m not a babysitter, yet I’m here making sure you don’t get yourself killed. And what are we even doing? What’re you trying to accomplish out here? My job is to fight, not help you find yourself, or whatever you’re trying to do.”

“I know,” I muttered. “But don’t be such a baby. You’ll see action soon enough. Fighting is a given around me,” I spoke, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. “And so is winning.”

He scoffed at my comment, as if he highly doubted it. “Okay, killer.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “You sound just like my military squad,” I seethed. “They were all assholes.”

He chuckled. “Well, and you’re just the nicest gal in The Commonwealth. I saw you snap at Mama Murphy when she asked you for some jet.”

What was I supposed to do, tell her that drugs were bad for her? I’d been told that everyone had been telling her that for weeks, months, even, and she refused to stop. Telling her she’d wind up dead if she kept huffing jet seemed to be enough to snap her out of her habit, I was sorry for the tone I used, though. I couldn’t help it. Being around military brutes for three years will do that to you. 

“Couldn’t be military if you weren’t at least 60% proud asshole. You are at least 80% asshole, and 20% whiney baby.” I teased. 

“Charming,” he commented with a sigh, but I could see the humor that remained in those wicked blue eyes of his. 

I turned to look at the horizon now, the dead trees in the distance, the ruins of Quincy just right up ahead. I sucked in a breath of fresh air but I stopped and grimaced. It was hard to get used to this putrid air. I let out a breath now, shuddering. Ah, complaining about the air. 

What a perfect way to start my adventure. Beginning things on a negative note. 

Still, I was curious as to how life had given me a second chance, when I was so reluctant to continue the one I lived pre-war, but if fate wanted me alive, might as well kick some ass and make a name for myself. It was time to begin my journey, and nothing could cease the excitement and nervous emotions that grew within me.


	3. Graygarden

I checked my Pip Boy to find we were almost at Graygarden. We had just begun to pass Rocky Narrows Park. Once the Geiger Counter in my Pip Boy began ticking, I made sure to walk around the trailer with nuclear waste barrels littering the front of it. We passed by the broken playground, the sad, rusted pieces of metal, decaying and depressing. “I’d call the slide first, but my tetanus shots are way out of date,” MacCready commented. I rolled my eyes before questioning how he knew what tetanus shots were, but I also felt comfort in his pre-war joke. It was a joke I never expected to hear out of a Wastelander. 

We passed by Jalbert Brothers Disposal, but as soon as my Pip Boy read [caution], MacCready scowled and pulled me further from the location. “Walk loud much?” he muttered.

We were only a few feet away from Graygarden now, we walked down the broken road and to the blue doors of the settlement, protected by a big grey wall Nora had obviously built herself. It was the same type of boarder that protected Sanctuary. 

Nora had suggested we spend the night in Graygarden in order to rest up for the venture through the center of Boston. She told me that the surrounding sections surrounding Diamond City were claimed by various Commonwealth threats – Super Mutants, Raiders, Gunners, and feral ghouls. I was going to ask MacCready more questions about the first three groups once we were settled in at Graygarden. Nora had told me she had made a small home for herself there, a rest-stop if you will, but that she chose to keep Graygarden as a robot only settlement, and had sent some robots she built herself to live there, too. MacCready didn’t like the idea of staying in Graygarden because of his dislike for robots and pure ignorance of them. 

The wind started to pick up, the sound of crackling rippled through the sky. I frowned and looked up, strands of my hair blowing onto my face as I noticed the sky had begun to turn a yellow color, hazy now, the crackling rippled through again with a flash of lightning this time, and my Geiger Counter went off. Radiation? From what? The sky? “Rad storm. We should hurry,” MacCready spoke as he nervously eyed my Pip Boy. He seemed nauseous as a flash of lightning coursed through the sky. 

Terrified, I quickly walked with him inside of the settlement, an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach as I began to feel a bit funny, my Pip Boy ticking every few minutes. None of the robots questioned us or tried to talk to us, besides a green Mr. Handy wanting to sell me stuff, and MacCready led me to the wooden house underneath the highway. As soon as we walked inside of it, MacCready shut the door behind us. He looked a little queasy, but after some rad away, he seemed better. He must have been more sensitive to radiation damage. That must have been very inconvenient, growing up in such conditions. 

I took a moment to admire the mini home Nora had built. It was built with cement walls and a cement roof, the floors made out of clean wood (Author’s note: Creation Club). There was a red couch by the front door which rested on top of a faded red carpet. On the other side of the room was a cooking stove beside a counter and cabinet filled with supplies. The bathroom was through the door on the left wall, it had a tub, a sink and a toilet, and on the right wall was a quaint little bedroom. The bed had clean red sheets, and it was equipped with two clean pillows. There were two dressers in this room, both a clean dark brown. Nora was obviously a master at settlement building. I removed my armor and placed it on a counter, relishing the cool air that hit the warmed areas my combat armor covered. 

I sat on the couch and hugged my legs, resting my chin on my knees nervously as MacCready grabbed something from the cabinet next to the cooking station – Rad Away. He threw it to me. Thankfully, I hadn’t taken too much radiation damage, so I put it in my bag in case that changed in the next hour, or however long these things lasted. “What do we have for food?” he asked now, I sifted through my bag and took out what I had wrapped up.

“Mirelurk meat and Ragstag meat,” I spoke. “Which one do you want?” I had no preference, really. To be honest, I’d prefer an actual ribeye steak from an actual, non-irradiated cow, but apparently, that was a lot to ask for in this world. I’d eaten some questionable things in the military for survival, so I had no problem eating weird things. Also, if everyone else had gotten by eating these things, surely I could, too.

“Ragstag,” He spoke as I placed both meats on the cracked plate he took out of the cabinet. “Mirelurk is disgusting. Never could get used to the taste.”

“Hm,” I shrugged. “I guess it never bothered me,” I spoke. He turned the stove on and grabbed both meats as he started to cook the Ragstag ribs. He left my Mirelurk meat on the plate, which I took as a sign he was going to leave me to cook it myself. Good, he probably would have undercooked it anyways. I liked my Mirelurk on the crispy side, and from what I could tell, he liked having his meat cooked medium. Maybe if he was alive when I was, he’d be one of those medium-rare type of men, but you couldn’t be too trusting with the meat these days, had to make sure it was cooked enough to not actually kill you. 

I sat back on the couch, hugging my legs, flinching when the sound of crackling echoed through the walls. I wasn’t sure how MacCready was holding it together, but he’d probably experienced this hundreds of times. “How do you get used to rad storms?” I asked as the smell of Ragstag filled the air as it hit the pan, sizzling. My stomach loudly growled, but I was sure MacCready didn’t hear it. The sounds outside drowned it out. 

He shrugged now. “You find shelter and wait it out to avoid some serious radiation damage,” he spoke. “You get used to it after a while.”

I checked my Pip Boy. Six o’clock. The sun hadn’t set yet, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep through the storm after we were finished with dinner. I could never fall asleep earlier than nine o’clock. MacCready placed his meal on the counter and stared at the Mirelurk meat for a good moment before he sighed and picked it up. “How do you like this crap cooked?” he muttered.

I grinned. Couldn’t help but be a gentleman, I see. “I like it crispy.”

“Weirdo,” he muttered under his breath as he began to roast the mirelurk meat. “So, I bet Nora’d kick my a-. . .Butt. . .” he corrected himself after he stopped himself from cussing. “. . .If I made you sleep on the couch, so, bed is all yours.”

“You take it,” I responded as I sifted through my bag for a comb. I needed to brush all the tangles out of my hair. “I won’t be able to sleep until nine at the earliest, anyways. It’s only six o’clock.” 

He groaned now. “You’re kidding me. It’s that early?” He let out a sigh before he took the Mirelurk meat off of the cooking station with a look of pure disgust. “Your. . . .Food. . . Is ready.” He handed me my plate before sitting on the far end of the couch away from me. I snickered and shook my head. “What is it, now?” He snapped, assuming that I was thinking about him. He was assuming right.

I shrugged nonchalantly as I started to eat my food. It wasn’t easy eating a dinner like this while sitting on a couch, but Nora hadn’t set up a dinner table. There was nowhere else to eat. We had to resort to sitting on the couch, but I’m sure Nora wouldn’t mind as long as we were careful. “Nothing,” I spoke lightly with a playful grin displayed on my face, just for him to see. He turned to me mid-chew now, his eyes narrowing. 

He spoke after he finished chewing. I was guessing that action had less to do with manners, and more to do with his inability to show his teeth when he spoke or smirked or did just about any facial expression – something I was curious to get answers about – but I let that go for now. “What?” He seethed.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you from all the way over there,” I teased. He had made it clear he didn’t trust me completely, and I shared the same uneasiness, but it was humorous to me that we both had the same reasons. Nora told me he used to be a mercenary with The Gunners, a faction that grew out of the small number of military survivors who eventually, after many generations, turned into hardened mercenaries, killing for caps for survival.

Learning this about him didn’t faze me at all, The Gunners definitely sounded military, a less organized faction that sounded more like a cult than an organization. I wouldn’t be surprised if my attitude was an attitude commonly shared around The Gunners, and I must have been a bad reminder of his time as a Gunner. 

I suspected that was a gray area in his life. The way we walked around Gunner territory, how annoying he was being about the sound of my footsteps, trying to get me to walk quieter. I wondered if he ever recognized any of them.

We were reminders of each other’s grueling past, something that was hard for me to accept. 

We probably felt that familiarity, and it rubbed us the wrong way to be reminded of the group we didn’t belong in, the group that wronged us, the group that was a lot more aggressive than we had bargained it’d be. 

His cheeks became a soft pink color before he rolled his eyes, turning his head to rip his gaze from mine as he took another bite. He made no response, and the air was filled with only the sound of chewing as we both continued our dinners. 

The radiation storm grew louder now, causing me to yelp and scramble off of the couch. I placed my empty plate onto the counter before I rushed towards the couch, curling up into a ball on my end. Didn’t want to give MacCready cooties.

He silently stood up and put his dish on top of mine before turning to inspect me as I sat there, cocooned in my own arms. I watched him, silently waiting for him to make fun of me, but he instead sat down next to me. “Lucy also never liked rad storms, but eventually she got used to them. Don’t worry, they’re just loud, but as long as you stay inside, you’ll be fine.” His voice was softer than usual, his eyes held a twinge of sadness as he moved closer to me on the couch. He met my eyes now, his blue eyes causing me to freeze where I sat. 

Who was Lucy? I hesitated for a moment before I let go of my legs, swinging them over the cushion as my hands rested on the tops of my thighs. I let out a shaky breath. I had no idea how to even answer him. I had no idea why he even inched forward. He held his arms out awkwardly. “If. . . You need a hug, or something. . . I guess. . . .I can. . .” He spoke. Whoever this Lucy was, she must have had a hold on his heart, if me acting like her causes him to be sympathetic and comforting towards me. She must have been a deceased girlfriend. I wasn’t going to ask about her, not until he told me himself. 

I felt my cheeks heat up now. No one had ever offered to comfort me before. I hesitated before I inched closer, curious as to how it felt to have someone hold me, but I wasn’t sure if I trusted him yet, either. I was waiting for him to laugh, to call me a big baby, to ridicule me, but he never changed attitude. He seemed to realize this uneasiness, because when we met gazes, his expression was soft, understanding. If I rejected him right now, he’d understand, but perhaps I didn’t want to. I wanted to trust someone. I _needed_ to trust someone. Maybe even just for the brief moment. He was being paid to protect me, after all. It was his job to keep me alive.

I moved my body into his embrace, my head resting against his chest and my arms loosely wrapped around his lean frame. He stiffened in surprise at my sudden action, but relaxed, his arms wrapping around me as he held me.

He smelled like cigarettes and gunpowder, a little bit like dirt, but I did, too, after the journey we had. I breathed in the scent, familiarizing myself with it, my eyes closed. We stayed like this for minutes before he situated himself to lean his upper back against the arm chair, his body finally completely relaxed. Of course, it meant we were at a more horizontal angle, so the action made us both blush, but neither of us corrected it. We didn’t have a chance to, because once the sound of rippling roared through the sky, I had melted back into his embrace, hoping it’d keep me away from the danger of this new cursed world. 

“No one has ever. . . .Offered to help me like this before.” I finally spoke, breaking the silence. I couldn’t see his face, couldn’t determine what he was thinking. The air was silent, he kept quiet until he finally hesitated, I could hear the soft breath leave his lips.

“Well,” He began. “Even when I lived in Little Lamplight, all the kids had a buddy system for scary situations. Always seemed to help.” 

The more I spoke to him, the more questions I had. “Little Lamplight?” I asked now. Perhaps he had some happy memories there, and he could tell me one. I realized how desperately I wanted to hear his voice instead of the roaring sky outside. 

He chuckled now, I felt the vibration through his chest. “Yeah, lived underground in a place called Little Lamplight with a bunch of other kids. Left there when I was around sixteen. We kind of had a policy there – No adults. When you were sixteen, you packed up and left. I know it sounds crazy, but having adults around was something we couldn’t trust.”

Boy, did I understand that one. “I get that. I totally do,” I spoke reassuringly. “It doesn’t sound crazy at all.”

He chuckled again, a sound I was pleased to hear again. “Can you believe I was actually the Mayor for a while? Me? Crazy, I know.”

I grinned against his chest, humming softly, pursing my lips. “Well, I guess I don’t know you well enough to decide for myself whether or not that is actually crazy,” I mused. “Wow, opening up a lot. To the likes of _me_. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?”

“Who else am I going to speak to? The creepy robots outside?” he spoke with amusement. A small shudder ran through his body. “Ugh, that white one kept calling Nora ‘darling,’ it was creepy.”

I laughed at that. “I programmed my unit’s Mr. Gutsy, Dex, to call people ‘dumbass,’ no one knew who reprogrammed it, and no one knew how to fix it.” I began to snicker. “They had to send it back to Military Base Aurora. I wonder if they ever figured it out. I made sure it’d take at least an hour to reprogram him back.” Ah, the few happy memories of my time in the military.

He began laughing, his chest shaking underneath me. “That’s hilarious. I had no idea that was even possible.”

I felt proud of myself now. “Yeah, it was worth it.”

We were quiet for a moment now, soaking in the good feelings from the conversation. He hesitated before speaking. “You should probably cut your hair. A super mutant wouldn’t hesitate to rip your head off by the ponytail,” he spoke, I lifted my head to look at him now, his eyes on my long black hair which flowed down to my middle back. 

“I usually put it up in a bun,” I replied. “I’ll make do.” I didn’t want to cut my hair. I loved it long, and by the way MacCready’s eyes fell upon it, I could tell he was quite taken by it, too. “Erm, what’s a super mutant?”

“Big, ugly, strong, dumb green monsters,” he spoke before adding humorously. 

“Are they really that ugly?”

“Super Mutants didn’t just fall from the ugly tree, they were dropped on it from low orbit.” 

I snickered at his comment. “So they’re nothing to be cautious of?” I questioned nervously. “Just really ugly?”

He hesitated. “They’re nothing to be afraid of, if you know how to take ‘em down. If you get caught by one, though. . . Taken prisoner. . . Not sure what’ll happen to you. I’ve seen a Super Mutant rip the limbs off of someone while they’re still alive. Never going to get that image out of my head. . . .” He paused now. His tone was lighter now, probably to lighten the mood. He had already scared me with his quaint little story. “These mutants don’t scare me. Been fighting them since I was a kid, and there’s nothing dumber than an angry Super Mutant.”

“Hm,” I wondered. “Maybe we’ll run into a few on our way to Diamond City. You can show me how to take them down.”

“Won’t be a problem,” he replied smugly. “Hey, have you heard this one? It’s about the Super Mutant who wondered why a rock kept getting bigger. Then it hit him.” He started to laugh at his own stupid joke, which made me laugh. He seemed to be happy that I laughed, because he gently patted my back. He started to sit up now, a yawn leaving his mouth. “The rad storm’s over.”

I hadn’t even noticed, I was too intoxicated on conversation to realize. “Oh, yeah,” I spoke as I stood up now. I checked the time, letting out a whistle. Nine o’clock. “We’ve been talking for about three hours.” 

_Cuddling for three hours, too_. I nearly kicked myself for that thought, a blush littering my cheeks. 

“Huh,” He said with a shrug. “Didn’t feel like three hours,” he responded. He glanced at the bedroom, then the couch, grabbing a tattered blanket from the dresser in the bedroom before laying onto the couch. “Well, goodnight.”

I nodded in response, whispering out a soft “goodnight” before walking to the bedroom, shutting the door behind me, laying in Nora’s bed. The scent of him clung to my clothing, and it lulled me to sleep.


	4. Wrong

. .

.

_Two hundred and eleven years ago._

_November 23rd, 2076. 2287._

 

“Betty, Betty, Betty,” I was currently digging through my backseat for the boxes of ammo, the left back door swung wide open as I kept my left foot planted on the ground, right foot on the floor of the car with my ass in the air and my lower half buried in boxes and assortments as I searched through the supply boxes. My whole backseat was rearranged on the way here when some stupid red Chryslus Cherry Bomb cut me off. Stupid rich prick. I had to slam on the breaks before my Chryslus Coupe destroyed the little toy-like, rich-bitch car and its stupid driver. 

I had picked up some ammo this morning, which I was now desperately looking for. Unfortunately, the small, colored boxes had fallen somewhere I couldn’t see. I was already incredibly frustrated, cap falling off as a strand of hair lay across my eye, I’d keep swatting it away every few minutes only to have its discomforting presence partially blocking my sight again.

“ _What?_ ” I hissed at the person who had tried to get my attention, yanking myself out of the backseat to find Nichols leaning against my car, mere inches away from me. His hair was shaved on both sides of his head, longer strands slicked back at the top of his skull. He was in his military fatigues, but he didn’t have his cap on. He grinned at me as I turned to him now, my face red, upper lip and forehead slightly moist from sweating in the heat, and from rummaging through all these goddamned supplies. 

“You’re too pretty to be doing shit like that, girl,” he spoke now, his tongue sliding across his lower lip as he reached into my car, taking one of the large boxes out of the car so I could search easier. “There you go, darling.”

“If you don’t get the _fuck_ out of my face in the next five seconds, Nichols, I’m putting a live grenade in your goddamn pocket,” I snapped. He snickered at my comment. 

“Aw, come on, aren’t you gonna talk to me?” He asked, his hand reaching for my arm, but I slapped his hand away, punching him in the shoulder. He grunted as I gave him a dead arm. “Oh, come on, Betty,” he spoke with a wince, trying to move his arm, but he was in too much pain now. “I mean, fair warning, but, come on.”

“Just because you’re my comrade, doesn’t mean I have to like you,” I seethed, slamming my car door shut. I didn’t trust Nichols around while I bent down to grab ammo boxes. I also didn’t trust him around my car, or me, in general. I’d just come back for them later. If the Colonel got angry at me later, I’d send him Nichols’ way. 

He rolled his eyes. “I think you’re overreacting. So what, I called those foreigners Chinamen-“

I just about had it with this bullshit. “Look, just because China is our enemy, doesn’t mean you have to be a racist son of a bitch about it, okay?” I barked. “You know damn well that I don’t like that shit talk around me. This whole ‘red menace’ bullshit, it’s getting out of hand, and if you weren’t such a fucking idiot, maybe you’d see that!” I snapped. “I’m just saying, when we run into Chinese civilians, you don’t have to demean them! They’re human beings, too.” 

He glared at me now, coming closer to me slowly, intimidatingly leering over me with his foot and a half height advantage on me, but I stood my ground, glaring up at him with flared nostrils, disheveled strand of hair over one eye. He smiled at me, now, but I didn’t smile back, I kept my hardened glare. “Betty, it’s our _job_ to take down the Chinese infiltrators who have already made it in the US. If some Chinese citizens get hurt or detained in the process, it’s not our fault,” he spoke with a shrug. “How are we supposed to know if they’re really citizens making an honest living, or spies?”

His words made me feel sick to my stomach. He was wrong, so, so wrong. “Well, gee, I don’t know, Nichols, Mrs. Fu was just trying to put the dishes on the dish rack when you lost your damn mind and started chucking the dishes at the wall. Why the fuck would you do something like that with children in the house?” I snapped.

He blinked now, confusion spreading across his face. “Who cares? They’re never seeing that house again.” His pure ignorance was enough to silence me. The fact he thought it was about the dishes than basic human decency was mind boggling to say the least, but that’s how it was in the military. No care for the preservation of human life, no care or respect for anyone who didn’t comply. No care for children who didn’t look like his own.

That sickening feeling intensified at those words. They were never going back home, because they were being interrogated. Just because they were Chinese, and living in The United States. It was a racist hunt, and I was tired of it. “Call me Jett, Nichols. Only my friends call me Betty.” I spit on the ground in front of his boot, slinging my bag over my shoulder before I headed to the base. I needed to get away from this son of a bitch before I made his wife a widow.


	5. Diamond City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a bit of smuttiness at the end, just a fair warning lol.

It took us an entire day to get to Diamond City from Graygarden, with the addition of a pit stop to Vault 81 for me to grab a gun Nora had mentioned briefly. She told me it may be up my alley, and she was right. I just had to trade a ton of fusion cores I had found in an old Military base, but it was worth it. This gun was my new favorite. 

According to MacCready, we should have arrived here at Diamond City by eight o’clock at night, but due to my, “barbaric fighting habits,” we were a few hours later. He was worn out, tired from fighting, tired of running, but that run was just a warmup. He didn’t want to admit it, but I was physically fitter than he was, but it was all because of my days in the military. We had to keep in shape, so I ran miles every morning before work.

MacCready’s constant attitude made my already melancholy mood worse as we walked through the ruins of the heart of Boston, a city once strong, beautiful, buildings that stood strong. The roads and sidewalks, which once was clean, smooth, cars driving up and down the streets as pedestrians walked with their families into the small shops here, gone That happy living, it was gone. It hurt to look at all of the buildings, my last memories of these places becoming a distant, altered reality. Despite my attitude, I had only called MacCready a baby about three times, but he just brushed off my comments. It was odd, because it was as if last night’s conversation never happened. It was like he was offended by my lack of stealth.

It was 2 AM, and MacCready and I were just grateful to finally have arrived. We probably would have arrived earlier, had enemies actually stayed away instead of insist on trying to kill us, but still, we made it to Diamond City in one piece, despite MacCready’s obsessive bitching. It was like he was programmed to get mad at me every five minutes. According to him, my fighting style was too impulsive. “Now I know why you got injured so damn fast in the war,” he said, causing me to clench my fist.

God, I wanted to fucking punch him. It was hard adjusting to the fact that he wasn’t a fellow soldier in my team, no, he was my hired gun. In the military, we would open fire without asking questions because that’s how it was. We’d spill blood without a second thought, but MacCready wasn’t on a search and destroy mission. He may have killed for money, but he had little care for needless bloodshed. 

He had a heart. I lost mine the minute I enlisted. The unit I had wasn’t the most heroic one, we were assigned to the dirty missions no one wanted to do. The ones where we’d keep civilians in line, where we’d threaten families to stay away from the sketchy government operations that we performed. We’d protect nuclear warhead sites. Boston didn’t have a special sector for military operations, so we kept our nuclear warheads in buildings in Natick, a few feet from playgrounds, from neighborhoods. That section of the town was mostly comprised of the innocent. 

No one knew quite like me just how fucked up the Military was. I didn’t blame the local residents for being curious, I didn’t blame the nearly residents for getting into our faces, screaming for answers until one of my comrades would pacify them with the butt of a gun into the civilian’s jaw. Something I always found no pleasure in. No matter how much I faked enjoying my time in the Military, I could never put on a fake smile to join my comrades when they would snicker at the civilian hitting the pavement. I always had that look of disgust towards them, because deep down, I hated them. I hated our job. 

I was now filled with regret, because those places I were stationed at were all in what is now The Glowing Sea. Those civilians had a right to hate military operations, because in the very end, it was the reason why their homes were the main target for the warheads. Now, their homes lay forever a grave of the children who played just a few steps away from our military sites, so radiated that it is unsustainable for any more life.

I knew this made me heartless. It had to. My squad was also assigned to follow leads on Chinese infiltrators, which was basically a bunch of racist neighbors calling in on their Chinese neighbors. I kept a clenched jaw during those missions, which inevitably ended in bloodshed, and the relocation of those Chinese neighbors. I would be dishonorably discharged and most likely tortured for treason if I even tried to help them escape, and I was a fucking coward. 

America was not the proud nation anyone thought it was. And I was just a pawn to them. I was just. . . Property.

I was no one’s property. 

And I wasn’t Miss Sunshine. I wasn’t the savior of people. I was cursed to suffer the sentence of the damned. The ruins of Boston that these people called The Commonwealth – This was all my doing. Pre-war Americans had created this, and I was one of the people who fought for such a stupid cause. I was one of the monsters who fired shots, who seized and escorted citizens who got in the military’s way, and despite all of my effort, my belief that maybe, just maybe I was working towards something better than the backwards cause we fought for, it all ended horribly anyways. The world still lay in ruins at the hands of the future generation. Walking through the destruction were sharp, prodding reminders that, yes, I am the one who ultimately caused this. I had to look at my own havoc, which fueled my grief. 

You don’t know why I was one of the first to get a fatal wound.

I didn’t respond, I kept my grim expression. No one knew that I wanted to die. No one knew I refused to attack the Chinese because I had become a Chinese sympathizer. I had failed my country by refusing to fight back, and I had betrayed my own beliefs by clinging onto the memory of what I once was, at the same time.

\--

Apparently, Diamond City was literally Fenway Park, but rebuilt into a giant settlement. It felt like I had gone here just two years ago to see a ball game, but I had to remind myself that I didn’t. It was probably two hundred and what, like, twelve years ago? Nora’s Mr. Handy, Codsworth, told me he lost track, and honestly, I couldn’t blame him. That world was far, far behind me. 

The concrete floors outside of Fenway Park were littered with garbage, soaked to be a permanent, greying shade with cracks large enough that pieces of cement chunked out of the ground and lifted, making some steps rocky. The entrance was the same entrance it had been pre-war, but with a dimly lit area where two security guards watched me. One in particular caught my eye, almost hiding in the corner in the shadows with a pair of dark shades and a shiny bald head. “Hey,” he spoke casually. “What a day, huh?”

I hesitated, nodding once at him before I turned to look at Macready, who was talking to a Diamond City guard who had motioned with his thumb for us to go inside. 

“Somehow made it out alive without you spraying Super Mutant blood all over me,” Mac muttered under his breath as we walked up the trashed, littered stairs. Jesus, did brooms also go out of style? 

“Did you die?” I asked him, folding my arms over my chest stubbornly. My vault suit was way too revealing in my taste, especially with the size of my bust. I was ready to go buy some new clothes. 

“No,” He snapped back, anger in his eyes. 

“Then stop whining,” I spoke firmly. I started to approach Diamond City when someone started a conversation with MacCready. I sighed audibly, cleaning my Gauss Rifle before holstering it. I also had Overseer’s Guardian, a weapon I had acquired from Vault 81 right before we got here. On my Overseer’s Guardian, I replaced the scope with a reflex sight, which Macready audibly opposed, as he preferred sniping, but I was no sniper, and I wasn’t trying to be.

“MacCready, didn’t think I’d see you here without Nora dragging you by the ankles. Who is this?” The woman spoke, her brown cap tilting at the movement of her head as she wore a smirk. She had black, short hair and a red leather coat. She stood out as one of the very few people I had met in this new world who didn’t wear smears of dirt and sweat on their face. 

“I’m Betty,” I spoke. “Nora’s friend.” 

“Well, any friend of Blue’s is a friend of mine,” the woman spoke. “My name is Piper,” Her body language became obviously friendlier, as her smirk turned into a welcoming smile. “So, another vault dweller,” she eyed my vault suit and my Pip Boy. “What’s your story?”

No use in keeping hush hush about my past. “Vault 111. Just thawed out.” 

“Yikes, Vault-Tec has yet another unhappy customer,” she spoke softly, she obviously could read the uncomfortable grimace I had on my face while speaking about Vault-Tec.. “Well, hey, I’m sure the Minutemen could use another Vault Dweller.” 

I hesitated at her words. Everyone was always so quick to find a spot for me to fit in. I wasn’t too concerned on that, myself. “Er. . . Yeah. We’ll see.”

She folded her arms over her chest as she eyed me curiously. “Don’t have a reason to help anyone?” She asked. Her eyes scanned me, and I realized she was obviously trying to read me.

“No,” I stated bluntly, folding my arms. I hated it when people pried like that. It always rubbed me the wrong way. “No, no reason. I just woke up from a two-hundred-year sleep, and everyone’s acting like I owe this cursed world something,” I muttered, irritated, lifting my hand to take the cigarette MacCready handed me. No one had to know that I actually did owe this cursed world something. I was just unsure if someone like me was even capable of undoing such horrid damage.

I was never a smoker, but every now and then, someone’d easily convince me to light one up. Everyone said smokes would kill two hundred years ago, but the probability of me dying from cancer was probably less than my probability of being skewered by a Super Mutant, so that argument was useless to me. I just hated the idea of becoming addicted to cigarettes in the wasteland, where you had to scavenge for your fix – aged packs of cigarettes littered throughout the Commonwealth. Call me smoking peer pressure, or call it not giving a shit – Either way, I didn’t give a shit. 

Macready liked the response I gave Piper, and he turned to me with a smirk. He lit the cigarette that loosely hung from my lips, the bright orange glow accompanied with small swirls of smoke in the air. Piper looked at the cigarette before taking out one of her own (we all know that literally everyone smokes in the Fallout universe, including Nate and Nora if you interact with the cigarettes pre-war by the side door on the small brown table in their house). 

“Er. . .Well, can’t say I didn’t expect that response, but can’t say I did, either. You do seem like the military type now that I look at you. Just. . . Take my advice, and stay away from The Brotherhood.”

MacCready scoffed in surprise, his head turning to look at Piper with incredulous eyes. “You know, I left the Capital Wasteland because of those clowns. Now they’re back in a huge da-. . . Gr, dang blimp! Gotta admit, they sure do know how to make an entrance.” 

There it was. MacCready’s resistance to cussing. I turned to look at Piper. “What information do you have on the Brotherhood of Steel?”

She let out a short laugh. She was going to give her self-righteous opinion, I could feel it. “Oh, they’re a bunch of beefed up people in suits of power armor, with more firepower than the average organization needs. Their intentions are to ‘cleanse the Commonwealth,’ Nora’s met them. I think she told me they’re actually comprised of the descendants of the surviving Military after the bombs fell.” She sighed. Well, I respected her concern for the Commonwealth, and I appreciated her lack of filter. She told it how it was, even if it rubbed people the wrong way.

Still, I wasn’t one to make friends. 

I sucked in a small gasp. As much as I hated the past, I had a sinking feeling that perhaps The Brotherhood would be the last familiar thing in this godforsaken world. Still, by the way MacCready and Piper acted, it was probably not the most appreciated faction around for a reason. I had to learn about them before I met them. “I need more information. If you give me more information, I’ll help out with the Minutemen.”

“Deal,” Piper spoke almost instantly. “Nora needs more help. That woman’s gonna work herself to death, and I’d do anything for her.”

“No,” MacCready spoke stubbornly. “I’m not coming with you to that-. . .That stupid ship.” 

“Then I’ll find a way on my own,” I spoke, folding my arms. “When I eventually get around to meeting them.” I was less eager to hear MacCready’s firm disagreement with my desire to meet these people. 

“I’m gonna head back to Publick Occurrences, I have a new article I’m whipping up. If you’re ever up for it, I’d like to conduct an interview with you. Like I did with Blue,” she hesitated before smiling. “And hey, if you need a hand, I’ll be able to lend it, granted I’m not already out with Blue.” She was being sincere, and I was surprised at the amount of trust she had for someone who spoke so selfishly. She must have seen that I had a soft spot. Damn. 

I smiled. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m gonna keep MacCready. He’s not half bad,” I spoke teasingly, he scoffed before we walked down the long, aged, metal steps of Diamond City as I looked upon the staple of the new civilization. 

Diamond fuckin’ City. Out of an old stadium. 

I looked at all of the sheeted metal homes, the makeshift balconies that looked like they’d collapse if you stepped on them, the small shops below, the smiling people dressed in rags, and man, all the security. 

Maybe humanity wasn’t completely gone. These people weren’t exactly bursting with sunshine or wearing the most beautiful garments, but this was a new generation, and my old one was long gone. 

This new world would work just nicely. No one wearing false smiles. No one pretending they’re happier than they actually are. No false reality, just kill or be killed, survive by any means possible.

“You and your merc friend better keep your guns in your pants. This is a friendly place. No need to get all superior,” one of the guards spoke rudely at me. 

I frowned, but I didn’t respond. No use to get into a fist fight in my first real outing in the new world. Instead, I walked to the bench right in front of the chemistry station and took a seat. 

MacCready bent down to sift through my bag, grabbing a purified water. He took a few sips before he spoke, stretching his arms out with a yawn. “Nora has a place here, but I didn’t bring my key.” 

Something inside of me grew curious at his words. “Why would you have a key to her house?” 

“Because she’s my best friend,” he spoke, sighing as he slumped down next to me, his hand slightly brushing my thigh accidentally as he made his dramatic gesture. “I know where we can stay. The Dugout Inn serves as a bar and a hotel.”

I let out a long sigh. “Sure, fine, let me just restock on some ammo.” I spoke upon realizing I had only 109 .45’s left. It’d be more than enough to travel anywhere else, but I liked carrying a generous supply of ammo just in case. A little habit I picked up in the military. 

The only vendor left at this time was a Mr. Handy in front of Diamond City Surplus. I sighed and walked over to him, taking out my pouch of caps. I also purchased 140 .45’s. Once I upgraded my Overseer’s Guardian, it’d take .308, but I was holding off on that upgrade since I didn’t have the building materials for it just yet. The money I was spending was borrowed money, and I would rather die than ask Nora to lend me more caps. I was going to make caps on my own, and I didn’t need anyone’s handouts. 

I didn’t buy any 2mm EC’s. 10 caps per round? Hah, no. I’ll stick with my trusty Overseer’s Guardian, any day of the week.

I put all of my ammo away after getting all of my things sorted and checking my guns were fully operational before allowing myself to grow tired. The exhaustion hit like a truck, causing me to rub my eyes with a yawn. 

MacCready saw my sudden change in energy, and he began walking away. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder to see I was following him. “Okay, let’s go, the Dugout Inn is just down past the butcher shop,” he said.

Lethargic, I followed the man to the bar, which to my surprise, had a few drifters hanging about. Guessed this place was open 24 hours. I walked up to the counter to a man with a shaved head who wore a big smile at me before he started to speak. “Hello, welcome, welcome! Looking for a room, or to try Bobrov’s Best? Or both! Haha!” He had a very thick Russian accent, and a very jovial attitude. I wasn’t expecting that from a Wastelander. 

I cracked a grin at his words. “You have me sold on both. Two rooms and four of Bobrov’s Best.” 

He turned to look at MacCready, who had finally made his way up to the bar with his slow walking, an incredulous look on the bartender’s face. “Wait, is that—MacCready! Hello, my friend!” 

“Hey, Vadim. Was scared you didn’t recognize me. Still killing people with your moonshine?”

He laughed at MacCready’s words. “I just thought you were traveling with Nora,” he spoke with a smile. “New friend?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“My boss. I’m her hired gun.”

“Ah, okay. Unfortunately, Yefim only has one room left, and it has only one bed. But, good news, I have four of Bobrov’s Best to send to your room once you have settled in. Sounds good, yes?” 

I was too tired to argue or think of another sleeping arrangement. I thanked the man, handing him his payment for the booze, and handing his brother caps for the room before dragging myself towards the room. Room 2, straight through the door. 

This wasn’t my first night outside of Sanctuary, but it was my first time being trapped in a small room all night with MacCready. At least Nora’s Graygarden house had two separate rooms. These were cramped quarters, to say the least. Still, it was oddly comforting to have a companion so close to me. 

I thought the tension in my shoulders had faded, until I walked in and took a good look at the room. The awkward feeling sunk in as I realized the only form of comfort was the single twin bed in the far corner of the room, next to a dresser with broken drawers. At the end of the room was a white door that most likely led to a bathroom. I felt my cheeks burn and my palms become sweaty. 

[Author’s note: I know none of the hotels have rooms with bathrooms but I’m going to write bathrooms connected to the bedrooms, since they clearly know how pipes, sewage and purifiers work.)

I swallowed hard, noticing how dry my throat was all of a sudden. Well, there was no reason we had to sleep together in that, right? I saw people share mattresses in Sanctuary occasionally, but no one dared sleep in the one I had claimed. I made it clear I had a thing about personal space. I removed my combat armor and rubbed my arms nervously. 

“I, er, you get the bed, since I nearly got you killed earlier,” I spoke to MacCready. “I’ll take the floor.”

MacCready raised a questioning eyebrow at me. “You don’t want to just swallow your pride and sleep in the same bed with me?”

I folded my arms across my chest and pursed my lips. I was too angry at this attitude the entire day to let that be my only option, and besides, I was trying to put up a wall between us now. No room for getting friendly with him. No way. “Not really interested in having your hydrophobic, grimey body in breathing range of me.”

MacCready’s jaw dropped as he glared at me. “Well aren’t you just a bucket of sunshine? You know, you could have just asked me to take a bath instead of acting like a bi—” He stopped himself, clenching his fist as if he was scolding himself. “-Jerk. Instead of acting like a jerk.”

He was right. I let out a soft sigh and ran my fingers through my greasy hair. Ugh, I was itching for a bath, too. I probably didn’t smell too great, either. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? It’s clear we don’t get along. We can just call it quits tomorrow, and you can keep the caps Nora gave you, plus some that I was going to give you. Sound good?” If I was such a terrible traveling partner, he deserved a say in whether or not he really wanted to travel with me.

I also wanted him to just leave. I wasn’t a good person, and I didn’t deserve protection. He shouldn’t have to work for someone like me. 

He seemed unsure by this. He grabbed a towel from the dresser, slinging it over his shoulder. “I’m a man of my word, Betty, I promised Nora I’d help you. Now, I’m going to go take a quick bath before bed. Once Vadim sends up our booze, we’ll talk. I could use a drink.” I nodded at him in response as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door, making sure to lock it behind him.

There it was, that wall was up again. The fine line between us. The mistrust. I didn’t trust him 100% yet, either. 

It was funny, we were both highly trained in combat. We probably had the same standards, the same mannerisms, the same likes and dislikes. We just had a hard time trusting each other, even after we both opened up. 

This wasn’t new for me, though. I always had a very hard time trusting people. This was a familiar feeling, and it didn’t bother me. Well, it did, but whatever.

I started to clean my gauss rifle, absentmindedly staring off, and before I knew it, there was a knock at the door. It caused me to jump before turning the safety on my gun and placing it down on the table, walking to the door.

The pale, blonde-haired female who was sweeping by the bar earlier smiled politely as she handed me my four bottles of alcohol, and I gave her a tip before closing the door behind me with my foot as I placed all of the bottles on the table. 

The bathroom door opened, and MacCready walked out wearing his duster and a towel around his shoulders, his hat in his hand. He wasn’t so grimey anymore, his wet hair clung to his forehead as he muttered something about being uncomfortably cold as he put the towel on the rack to dry. It left a wet patch on his clothes.

I grabbed the other towel from the dresser and grinned at him. “Better not have taken up all the hot water. I’m gonna take a quick bath before we get hammered. I won’t be long.”

He nodded in response as he sat where I had been sitting, leaning back in the chair with a yawn before pulling out a cigarette and a lighter. I walked into the bathroom and locked the door, resisting the urge to be loud about it. I undressed now, using the faucet to fill the bucket in the room with hot water. Once I had dumped enough hot water into the tub, I sunk in, letting out a soft sigh as the water engulfed my aching limbs. I scrubbed “shampoo” and “conditioner” in my hair, or what I believed to be shampoo and conditioner. The bottles were so old that the labels were peeling off, coming off in two separate layers: The thin, clear top layer with the edges soaked in dirt and dust, and the matte text and logo underneath. The bottles lost their bright color, now the faded, whitened version of their once appealing tones, and the contents they held were more than unconvincing. I was considering whether or not I should risk it, but after more consideration, and a roll of the eyes at my own thought process, I decided it was most likely safe, and that I’ve done worse things in my life than use old shampoo. I scrubbed it into my hair, letting out a hum of delight once I felt the familiar feeling of cleanliness. My bad attitude from earlier slipped down the drain, accompanied with the layers of crusted blood and dirt from my admittedly small form.

I ran my fingers along my arms, wincing when my fingers brushed along rahmi, old scars, ones I couldn’t remember the stories of, and tilted my head back, my eyes shutting. I didn’t want to think about the fact that these scars, these unfamiliar violations happened without my consent, and I can’t even, for the life of me, remember what they did to me. What did they even do to me? 

After a minute of silence, the small waves in the water causing the water to leave my neck cold from when the water swayed away from the skin, I opened my eyes, reaching for the soap that was still wet from when MacCready was in here.

_When MacCready was naked in here._

I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. Damn it Betty, remember, the wall between us? It’s strong, sturdy, aaaand. . . Crumbling. Slowly, but still, the iron wall had never crumbled for anyone, and now this pompous ass-face proves to be not such a pompous ass-face. 

I rubbed my temple now. I had no idea how to express these thoughts mentally without cursing every two seconds, but hey, at least my American colloquialism was sure to pass when speaking to Military bots all across The Commonwealth, so hey. Life wasn’t all shit.

Oh, who was I kidding. It was. 

I remembered the way MacCready’s hands looked, the strong, sturdy hands, the veins that slightly raised under the tops of his hands and down his wrists. There was something sexy about a man’s hands that just got me thinking just what he’d be able to do with them. 

Jesus Christ, what was wrong with me? I shook my head at the impure thoughts that tickled and teased my mind: The thought of him running his fingers along his torso, which I pictured to be lean, toned, a slight trail of hair leading down to his fun parts, the soft sigh as the tension left his shoulders, the soap in my hand, and which places it had touched him. . . .

I could feel my face and nether regions heat up. God, how embarrassing. I wake up from the war and I get an insatiable need for sex, something I’ve never been particularly interested in. 

I thought he was like the people in my unit, but he had proved kinder, proved to care about my well-being, and maybe that’s why he was on my mind: He was the only person who’d shown me any sort of genuine comfort in a long, long time.

But that kind of thinking was going to get me in trouble. That kind of thinking would lead to feelings, and feelings were the worst disease I could possibly catch.

I shook my head. No, maybe this was only primal, maybe he was nothing more than something I could pass time with.

My mind kept lingering to the memory of his arms holding me tight, his strong, sturdy arms, and it was then I realized that I was a little smitten, and I and shivered, letting out a small gasp as the chill ran up my spine and made the small hairs on my shoulders raise, my skin littered in goosebumps as I sat in the lukewarm water. I hurriedly scrubbed my body of the impure thoughts (an unsuccessful task) and scrubbed away the blood of the super mutant who died on top of me as I killed him with my blade by landing a killing blow in his skull, something I only achieved because he was running towards me already with a supersledge hammer. 

No love for Betty. My life never included romance, and I didn’t expect anyone to be falling in love with a gal like me anytime soon. Whoever liked me would be absolutely insane. 

I washed the old shampoo and conditioner from my hair before picking myself out of the tub, pulling the drain, grabbing the towel from the place I left it, drying off my body before wrapping the towel around my head, slipping my clothes back on. Once they were back on, I flipped my hair forward and rubbed my hair between my towel, the friction warming up my hands before I started to brush my hair with a hairbrush I had found on the way to Diamond City. MacCready called it junk, I call it a lifesaver.

I untangled my hair and dried my hair once more before hanging the towel on the rack inside of the bathroom, opening the bathroom door, letting out the steamy air from the bath. 

I found MacCready where I left him, but this time he was inspecting the contents of one of the bottles, swishing it up above his head and underneath the hanging, dark yellow ceiling light. He grinned once he realized I was standing in the room again. “Thought you’d take forever. I was starting to get restless.”

“Pop ‘er open,” I sat in the other chair, the weakened, rusted legs letting out a groan and a squeak. 

“It’s party time,” He opened the bottle, taking a long swig before pulling the bottle from his lips, slowly swallowing the liquid with a shudder of delight. “Down the hatch,” he humored. Watching him made my lips chap, I realized how thirsty I was, and how ready I was to start forgetting what year it was. 

His eyelids slowly opened as he smirked in satisfaction, and he handed me the bottle, watching me intently. I scoffed. “What?” He asked at my sudden noise of displeasure.

“You’re expecting me to get smashed, aren’t you?” I spoke with a playful grin plastered on my face. “I was in the military, hon, and drinking was almost procedure. S’how I became close to my comrades,” I spoke, my gaze faltering as I tried to ignore the pain in my chest. It was the only bonding tactic I had with them, as their personalities were all too aggressive when I was sober. It was easier to deal with them while I was wasted.

I almost slapped myself for how I spoke about the men and women I grew to hate, because although they were all evil in their own, twisted, judging, corrupt ways, they were the very comrades who trusted me to fight alongside them. The ones I abandoned because of my own personal agenda. 

I was stuck between two emotions: Elatedness, for having watched them die for what they did to innocent civilians in the name of the corrupt Government, but sorrow for having not lifted a finger to save those who trusted me with their lives.

I had backstabbed them, even if it was for the greater good, an ending we never received. Instead, we get this lovely, disastrous, nuclear fuckin’ fallout.

Yaaaay.  

I took a swig of the alcohol, the strong stinging flavor took me by surprise. It was a lot stronger than I had ever experienced, but then again, this was probably made with ingredients older than I was. My mouth contorted in disgust, my nose wrinkling before I shook my head, a shiver rolling up my spine as I let out a “Whoo!” and slammed my fist onto the table. “Shit’s strong. Tastes like what I’d use to clean my wounds. Damn.” A familiar haziness fell upon me, my lips tingling, the bitter taste in my mouth so tantalizing I found myself staring at the neck of the bottle as MacCready snickered at my reaction, he lazily tilted it back and into his mouth, the liquid rising as it filled his awaiting mouth. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, passing the bottle to me. 

“So, when’s the last time you drank?” He questioned. 

I didn’t take a sip yet. I let my mind race. I drank whenever I wasn’t working. Constantly. Hell, I’d gone to work with a hangover pretty consistently during the last year of my service. I’d be lying if I said my unit and I didn’t kick back a few during some of our shifts, late at night, when we were sure a supervisor wasn’t going to check up on us. 

But he didn’t need to know about my deeply personal relationship with alcohol, how it was my only escape from the world I lived in. I came up with a different memory to tell him, as the memory of the last time I drank, where I ended up sobbing in the bathroom, Rosemary mending the wound on my leg from when I stumbled onto the broken bottles I had dropped in my room. She had found me, a drunken, sobbing mess.

The other memory that came to mind made me laugh. I sucked my lips in, the corners of my mouth curling. MacCready watched me, interested at my reaction to my own memory. He was leaning forward in his seat, elbow on the table, head resting on the palm of his hand as his eyes fixated on me. He wanted to hear the story. 

“Two months before the bombs dropped, I was stationed at Listening Post Bravo for about a week. We were protecting supplies. My comrade, Nichols, had just harassed a jogger, so Rosemary and I wanted to fuck with him. I was drunk off of Vodka, Whiskey, Wine, Rum, you name it. I was looking to get destroyed, and my best friend, Rosemary, had dared me to. . . “ I let out a snicker as MacCready took a swig, handing the bottle back to me. I took a quick swig before handing the bottle back. “Never mind, you probably don’t want to hear my military stories.”

He shrugged. “I’ve got time.” I saw a glimmer of interest in his eyes. 

I smirked. “My friend Rosemary had dared me to use a stealth boy and pull Nichols’ chair out from under him after he had gotten good and wasted. I thought, why the hell not? So sure enough, when Nichols was already having troubles staying upright in his chair, I clicked on the stealth boy and yanked the chair out. Oh, you should have seen his face,” I laughed, shaking my head. “Oh, and he deserved it, too. It gave me great pleasure to watch him smack the back of his head on the ground. I hope it hurt.”

MacCready was smirking at me. “Sounds like the kinda stuff I pulled when I was running with the Gunners. Well, at first, when things weren’t so morally questionable. They’d sometimes play pranks on raiders by sniping their belongings away, like beer bottles or cans of pork n’ beans. Sometimes they’d see it go flying, or hear it, but most of the time our shots were so accurate and timed that they wouldn’t notice. Then they’d look around for their stuff, and it’d be gone. . .” He was laughing, but he stopped laughing and sighed, letting out a breath. But Last time I got wasted, though, I was here in Diamond City, in this very room. . . .” His eyes softened, he turned his head. He took a swig of Bobrov’s Best, two swigs, as his attitude darkened. “Things are different, now, though.”

”Care to tell me who was in here with you before?” I questioned curiously. “Why it makes you so sad?”

“You’re straight to the point, you know that?” He sighed. “Don’t meet many people like that anymore.” He paused before a moment of hesitation. “Well, anyways, last time I was here, I was with Lucy, my wife, and Duncan, my son. It was right before. . . . “ He squeezed his eyes shut, his head dropping as he placed his hand on his forehead. I took the bottle from his hand, which fell right after I took the object from it. 

He fell quiet. “Before what?” I asked now, my voice gentle. 

He sighed, but he hesitated as if he was going to continue speaking. “Before I lost Lucy.”

I hesitated before I asked the question I’d been holding onto. “Who was Lucy?”

“My wife,” He spoke, his voice breaking in grief. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, examining his face. 

He paused, regaining his ability to speak further. He looked pained, haunted, destroyed. He had aged five years as he replied. “We were holed up in a subway station, and, I, well, I didn’t know there were ferals around, and. . . .They were on her before I had the chance to do anything. It took everything I had to get out of there with Duncan in my arms.” 

So that’s who Nora was talking about. Duncan was his son. MacCready was a father. 

I felt my heart warm. “At least you have your boy, right?” I spoke gently. “I’m sorry about your wife. That must have been terrible. Watching someone die, that’s something you can’t ever forget, but I couldn’t imagine watching someone I loved die. . . .” I shook my head. That’s why I loved no one. 

“I almost lost my son, too, but Nora helped me find a cure for him. He was really sick, and no doctor out there could figure out what was wrong with him. He had blue boils everywhere, and Nora helped me get the cure for Duncan, and he’s all better now. That’s why I promised her I’d make sure to keep you safe. I owe her my life. She saved Duncan,” He spoke. At these words, his mood had lifted. He obviously cared a great deal about Duncan, and he obviously cared for Nora. 

I was overjoyed that his son was okay, but the more I heard him speak about Nora, the more I suspected they had a thing for each other.

I turned my head so I wasn’t looking at him anymore. I grabbed another bottle and cracked it open as MacCready polished off the last of the one we had just cleared through. We were at the point of no return, taking more than just small swigs, and taking a few gulps at a time. We burned through the bottle in silence, and it wasn’t until we were cracking open the third that my jealousy finally got the best of me. It didn’t help that I was a straightforward individual, who was now almost completely plastered. 

I broke the silence. “Nora sounds like a real special gal,” I spoke. “Commonwealth’s Woman of the Year.” My words came out in a slur, and I couldn’t help but make a silly face when I spoke, causing MacCready’s eyes to study my face before a playful grin found itself on his handsome face. 

“It’s not like that. Don’t get the wrong idea about us,” He spoke. “We’re just friends. Best friends.” He took the bottle from my hand. More like pried it from my hand. He started to become blurry now, and I was starting to feel. . . Uninhibited. 

“Huh, friends? Is that what they call it these days?” I pressed. 

MacCready raised an eyebrow. “Why, jealous?”

I could feel the inability to keep myself steady become more and more obvious, and it was now very hard for me to hide I was drunk. I could tell that MacCready was not nearly as drunk as me, but clearly drunk. 

“Cocky?” I deflected. 

He grinned before tilting his head to the side, flashing me a flirty wink. “Well, Betty, I don’t mean to brag, but I’m a very desirable man,” he spoke, he was clearly kidding, but there was a tone in his voice that spoke truth. He was a charmer, and at times, a gentleman to those he respected.

He didn’t know how right he was. I just rolled my eyes at him and ignored the growing desire to just tackle him where he sat, to plant my face on his and steal a kiss. I was way too drunk to be making any rash decisions, and MacCready was just a hired gun. Besides, he was only around me because Nora paid him, and because he made a promise to her. He was just doing his job. 

He probably didn’t even care about me. He was probably just some lady’s man.

I sighed. “Time for bed,” I muttered, he frowned at my change in attitude. “I’m too drunk to care if you share the bed with me. Goodnight.” I walked to the bed and curled up against the wall, pressing my forehead to its cool surface. I didn’t care how dirty it was, the comfort it gave me made it worth it. 

After a few minutes, I felt the bed beside me falter, the springs in the mattress and the steel of the bed bars making an audible groan as he lay beside me. To fit on the bed, his chest pressed against my back, and I could feel the heat travel down to my nether regions. I bit my lip, smelling in his delicious scent, gunpowder, cigarettes, and booze, the faint smell of old shampoo in his hair, reveling in the contact his body made with mine, and. . . 

I flipped around so I was facing him now. The light was still on, so he could still see me. His expression turned to one of surprise as he met my green eyes with his own blue eyes. 

His eyes.

They were genuine, clear, kind, now that we weren’t yelling at each other, and those eyes were on me now, as I looked at him as if I had never met another human being before in my life. I felt all of my insides stutter now, as if I rebooted internally before I cleared my throat, pursing my lips, shy under his gaze now, as we had locked eyes for at least a minute. 

He blinked curiously. “Yes?” he questioned, confused. I was sending so many mixed signals, I couldn’t blame him for being unable to read me. I didn’t want him to read me, because then he’d know that I wanted him, but I refused to admit it. 

But hey, I had given up my body to the armed forces, which used me as a killing machine. Just because I gave my physical form, didn’t mean I had to give up my mind, and that was the mentality I was using now.

Just fun, no attachments. No mental connection. Like every other relationship in my life.

I placed my hands on his shoulders, gently pushing him onto his back on the mattress, straddling his hips, my hot heat dangerously close to the front of his pants. 

He would be like the rest of the people in my life, using me for my physical capability, but this time, it was me seeking him, and after a long, long life without a gentle touch, I was quite touch starved, and I found pleasure in the way his fingers grazed at my skin. 

“B-Boss?” His eyes widened in surprise, his hands resting on my hips seemingly without a second thought, and I took the action as a “go ahead,” grinding my hot, warm sex against his. “Ohh,” he sighed softly as lust now pooled in his eyes. 

His grip tightened on my hips before bringing them down into his again, thrusting his hips up to grind against me, his cock now semi-hard in his pants. I let out shaky gasp, I was so aroused that it was now painful, and God, I needed him. 

I probably shouldn’t have listened to the thoughts in my head, but I was impulsive, reckless, and I had an addictive personality, and this was just textbook me. I wasn’t ashamed of it. 

At least not yet.


	6. Reminders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you weren't already prepared for some smutty language and scenes, be prepared, all I have to say haha.

“Sure you want this, Boss?” MacCready growled lowly as his demeanor changed slightly, as he grinded me against him slowly, I gasped as I gripped onto his arm, throwing my head back as I felt the shape of his hardened cock against me. His touch was still gentle, and although he spoke like he was confident, I could see his flushed cheeks, and I could hear the raggedness of his breath. When I ran my hand down his chest, I could feel the beating of his heart, rapid, surprised, and he was obviously not used to this type of encounter, but neither was I, so why was this happening? Why was I so drawn to him?

I’d refuse to believe it was anything but physical, primal, instinctual, but perhaps there was something more about him, something I wasn’t quite ready to trust, but I could feel the image of him beneath me ingrain itself into my mind. This was really happening.

“Yes,” I spoke in a soft gasp, I grabbed his face with my hand, pulling him into a hot kiss, our lips melding together like fire and ice, my heart beating so fast I swore it was going to fall out. It was unlike any kiss I’d ever had, making me light-headed. I could feel the redness in my cheeks, and I was now so wet I was sure my panties were absolutely ruined. 

With my confirmation, a shaky breath left his parted lips. He grabbed me by the waist and flipped me onto my back so fast my head spun, and I swallowed the alcohol that tried to escape my throat. He seemed to realize that I was drunker than he was, and he frowned, his hands pulling away from me. “How do I know you’re not too drunk to consent?”

“Because I’ve been thinking about you since I saw you walk out of the bathroom after your bath,” I spoke almost immediately. God, I was an honest drunk, it made for embarrassing moments, like this one.

He snickered. “Oh? Is that all?” My words seemed to give him a bit more courage. He was now running his fingers along my thigh, shaking fingers, my breath hitched in my throat and I bit my lip. “I’m gonna need more evidence.”

“I may or may not have been fantasizing while in the tub,” I breathed as my hands slid across the tent in his pants, my hands finding the shape of his cock as I rubbed my palm into it.

This caused a low growl to fall out of his slightly opened mouth, mixed in with a pleasured moan. His hand slid up my thigh and boldly found my left breast, squeezing it firmly. I let out a moan now, my eyes fluttered closed as I felt that touch I had been craving.

His hands roamed me through my Vault suit, sliding up the sides of my legs, feeling the curve of my hips, sliding downwards to get a firm grip on my ass as he brought his head down. I felt the tip of his nose trace my skin before his lips met the soft flesh of my neck, right above my right collar bone. They lifted higher, and as his hands gripped my ass once more, his teeth sunk into my neck. I gasped as my hand slipped through the zipper in his pants, pulling his cock out, stroking it in my hand. He let out a shaky moan as I slid my hand along his length with my steady grip, watching him squirm above me. It must have been years since someone did this to him. He reached for the zipper of my vault suit and started to pull it down until the top of my panties were exposed. I slipped out of the suit as he started to take off his duster and his scarf, his long=sleeved tee, and his green pants, his dirtied black boots and his black socks. 

We both took the moment to drink each other in. He was just how I imagined him, but better. His muscles were a lot more defined than I expected, and I traced his scars with my eyes, wondering how the skin would feel like on the tip of my tongue, getting the urge to lick along his firm abdomen. 

He drunk me in, too, and all of my scars. I had so many I almost felt self-conscious, especially since half of them were so unfamiliar, but he seemed to find fascination in them. He bit on his lower lip as he sighed, his hands exploring my chest, his mouth latching onto the skin above my right breast as he gave it a light nibble, his hand sliding up my outer thigh, his other one right below my right breast. He unclasped my bra and pulled it off, throwing it somewhere in the room, his tongue tracing the scar as his fingers clamped onto my nipple. I let out a whimper as his other hand trailed down to my soiled panties, burying his hand inside of them as his fingers stroked my clit, causing me to moan and arch my back. I didn’t expect him to actually find it, it seemed men had no idea where it was, but he obviously learned. His head shot up to look at me incredulously as his finger slid down my soaked core. “Holy shit, you’re soaking.”

“I know,” I gasped desperately as two fingers slipped inside of me, stroking my inner walls. It was as if my body knew that I had spent over two hundred years without procreation and was hurriedly trying to carry out its human function, or I was just really turned on by this man. I couldn’t control the soft sounds that were coming out of my mouth as he delicately worked on me as my hand stroked him. 

His other hand slid up my waist and towards my breasts, cupping them in his hands, I bit his neck and licked at the soft flesh, but when his hand touched the scar in my inner thigh, the long, protruding reminder, I felt violated, remembering that all people ever used me for was my body, and this was not how I wanted this to happen.

I pushed him off of me and wrapped my arms around my naked body, I refused to make eye contact as he cussed for the first time without stopping himself. “Fuck, fuck, I-, I’m sorry,” he spoke in a slur, sitting up in the bed, watching me as I covered my chest. 

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” I spoke firmly, I was so embarrassed that my cheeks felt hot enough to cook the Brahmin meat I acquired today. “We’re drunk.” And you miss your wife, not me. I’m not her. I’m just Betty. 

MacCready was quiet for a minute, I was expecting him to be like the other guys, to get angry at me, to tell me I was a tease, to expect something from me, but he just simply sat up and put his clothes on. “You’re right,” he responded after a few minutes of silence, he handed me my vault suit, and respectfully turned his eyes away from my mostly naked form. He had an expression that told me we’d talk about this tomorrow, something I really didn’t want to do. I dug into my bag, finding something, anything to help me sleep tonight, because there was no way I could sleep with all of these thoughts in my head.

I grabbed some jet and inhaled before I knew what I was doing, relaxing as everything around me slowed, and collapsed into the bed next to the man I had almost had sex with just a few minutes before. He made no comment of my drug use, but I knew he didn’t approve. I didn’t care. I had to stop shaking, and this would help me sleep. 

I was asleep without another thought, aided by the alcohol and drugs in my system. 

\--

When I woke up, I had a splitting headache, and my throat was so dry I knew I’d be constantly drinking water for the rest of the day, and we were already on a low supply. I cursed to myself, realizing I’d have to spend more caps than I’d wanted to on purified water. We had enough to go around in Sanctuary, and I should have brought more with me for the trip.

“Fucking shit,” I groaned, my hands entangling themselves in my messy hair. “What the hell happened?” I groaned, opening my eyes to find myself in an unfamiliar room. After a few seconds, the memories from last night poured in, and my face turned beet red. Had MacCready and I actually. . . Almost. . . Fucked? Did he really see me naked, did he really feel my hot wet sex against his underwear? I gasped when I realized we had actually touched each other. . . Down there. . . 

My face went beet red. Fucking Christ, Betty. Bad Betty. Bad. 

I tried to scold myself, tried to regret what we did, but all I could think of was, God, did he really smell and taste as good as I remembered? 

I thought I didn’t want him, so why was he swirling around and around in my head?

Before I could answer my own question, the bathroom door swung open, revealing MacCready, who smiled at me as if last night never happened. “Hey, took you long enough. It’s already 11. Vadim was kind enough to give us a few purified waters, and I’ve already packed them in my bag.”

I blinked before opening my mouth to speak, I didn’t have anything good to respond with, so I nodded instead. I stood up from the bed and brushed myself off awkwardly. 

MacCready could obviously sense the thoughts that were going through my mind, and he obviously had more time than I did to process the thoughts before coming face to face with me. He didn’t say anything, we just walked out to the small booth outside of The Dugout Inn after I was done brushing my hair and tying it into a tight bun. He just sat at the small dining table and took a sip of one of the purified waters. I also opened one up, taking a few desperate sips. God, it felt so good on my patchy throat.

I opened my mouth to speak about last night, but something completely different left my cowardice mouth. “Markets are already open?” I asked. No, dammit, I was supposed to mention something about last night, but my mouth was refusing to form those words. My skin was positively flushed.

“They’ve been open since nine. Believe it or not, people actually get up to work instead of sitting around on their asses getting drunk,” he humored, taking a large sip of the water before standing up from the chair. He grabbed his bag and placed it on his back, groaning. “Seriously, you and Nora with all of the pointless junk. Did people used to collect junk in the olden days or something?” He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he adjusted the backpack. 

My jaw dropped at his words. “Are you calling me old?” I questioned, squinting my eyes until they were slits. 

He rolled my eyes at my defensive attitude. “Are you not from the old days?” He argued with folded arms. 

“I am, but don’t say shit like that, making me feel old.” I crossed my legs under the seat. I wasn’t sure why, but he had a newfound effect on me, one that didn’t make me too proud. I liked his assertiveness and no-bullshit attitude in a whole new way, ever since last night, but I was also interested in getting on his good side, and seeing how much of a gentleman he was capable of being.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re making it really hard to not cuss, you know that? I made a promise to my son to stop cussing, and, you. . . You’re trouble.”

“Yeah,” I sighed with a casual shrug. “Hard to be Military and not cuss like a sailor.” I put my backpack on my bag and took out my caps pouch so I didn’t have to dig through my bag for it while trading or purchasing with the locals. 

We walked out of Diamond City after giving Vadim a wave and headed towards a booth with a giant yellow sign above the booth, “Commonwealth Weaponry” in fading green and rusted brown colors. The man who was stationed there was a man in green army fatigues, he had black hair and a mustache.

“New girl, right?” He questioned me as soon as I walked up to him. “I heard Piper mention something about Nora’s friend visiting Diamond City?”

“Yeah,” I spoke hesitantly. God, did Piper tell everyone I was here? Already? I always preferred laying low on my location, a habit I picked up long ago. “I’m just looking for 2mm ec and .45 ammo.”

“Let me show you what I have in stock.”

I purchased 45 of the .45 ammo. Afterwards, we walked to Diamond City surplus where instead of a Mr. Handy, a paranoid, shifty-eyed woman stood. “You, you keep your distance from me, I don’t know who you are.”

I raised my eyebrow questioningly at her before looking around me, all of the foot traffic, all of the civilians walking amongst us. “You’re awfully paranoid for someone looking to sell to just about anyone in the Commonwealth, paranoia is bad for business.”

“You, you-. . .That’s something a synth would say!” She shouted loud enough for one of the Diamond City guards to hear. He turned to look at us now, and everyone around us seemed to stop moving.

“What?” I questioned in confusion, I looked from the guard, to the woman. I glanced at MacCready, who was carefully surveying the situation. “What’s that?” I questioned.

“What’s what?” The guard asked me now. He was holding a baseball bat in his hands. “How do you not know what a synth is?”

“I’m not from around these parts,” I responded. “I’m just looking to trade, and she told me to back off. I thought it was kind of weird. I purchased from her robot last night, and I was just looking to trade.”

The guard looked at the woman with an aggravated sigh. “Myrna, if you keep calling travelers synths, they’re gonna stop givin’ you their business,” he spoke before he turned to look at me again. “Sorry about that, beautiful. Enjoy your visit, eh?” he spoke before he took a few steps away, lingering to make sure the situation had been dissolved, leaving me with a confused blush. What the hell was going on? 

She studied me with her dark eyes now, a strand of black hair falling in front of one of her eyes, which narrowed momentarily before a look of defeat flashed across her face. She let out a long sigh. “Okay, I guess now that I look at you, you don’t look like a synth.”

“What does a synth look like?” I asked in confusion. The guard now turned his attention to MacCready.

“You, merc, why don’t you teach your girlfriend about synths? Protect her from them bastards,” He spoke before he walked off, leaving me blushing at his comment, and I didn’t dare to look at MacCready to look at the expression on his face. He’d see my obvious blush.

“Here’s what I have,” Myrna spoke. I traded her some telephones and hot plates in exchange for 70 caps. I was still a lot less rich than when I had started because of how expensive ammunition was these days. I was still getting used to the whole caps as money process, too, nearly throwing away the caps from my empty nuka cola bottles until MacCready would notice and take it from me before I could lose it. I gave her the caps, accidentally dropping a few, but MacCready picked up the ones that had fallen and placed it in Myrna’s open, waiting palms. 

She took the money and gave me a curt nod before I sighed and turned to the robot who manned the food bar behind us. He was a green Protectron with a chef’s hat. “This guy’s noodles are amazing,” Macready spoke, walking to the robot now. I was slightly confused. I knew MacCready had an obvious problem with robots, but I was delighted to see that he respected this particular robot, and spoke to him with high gratitude. “What’s up, Taka? Set me up with some of your shima. . .Uh, shimichanga. . . Err, whatever they’re called.”

“Nan-ni shimasho-ka?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s the stuff.”

“Nan-ni shimasho-ka?”

“You’re damn right I’ll take two servings.” 

I snickered, walking over to the robot. “I’d like one, too.”

MacCready snorted. “That’s why I ordered two of them. Count with me: One for me, one for you, that equals two. Looks like some brain cells never unfroze when you thawed out.” God, the prick. 

It was almost as if it was his life mission to say things to irritate me. 

I was relieved he was acting this way, though. After last night, I was afraid he’d treat me differently, but we were acting like nothing even happened. Nothing had changed. He wasn’t holding it against me. 

Besides, last night was all just supposed to be fun, nothing more than that. 

Taka the robot gave us our servings of noodles, and MacCready rubbed his hands together excitedly before digging in. I watched humorously as he devoured the noodles as if he hadn’t eaten them in ages, but once I took a bite, I understood what all the hubbub was about. These noodles were damn good. I was always pleased to be reminded that food after the bombs fell didn’t change in flavor, that there were still foods that tasted good. I felt a bit bad for underestimating this new world. I guess I was too ignorant to believe there could be success in this post-apocalyptic world.

When we were done eating, I cooked the meat I had acquired beforehand in preparation for the adventure to Goodneighbor before stopping at Fallon’s for clothes, a tiny room down a small staircase in between the barber shop and the Swatter shack. I also wanted to take a job or two before we left. Needed to make my caps back somehow.

“Last time I was at Fallon’s, it was a department store,” I muttered under my breath. Man, Becky Fallon was a real pill, but then again, I’d be too if I was stuck in a dim-lit, window-less room every waking day of my life. . “This world’s really throwing me curveballs.”

MacCready gave me a funny look before shaking his head with a sigh. “That place has been infested with Super Mutants for ages.”

I rolled my eyes and inspected the clothing racks, stopping in my tracks when my eyes fell upon the military fatigues on the hangar in front of me. I clenched my jaw as I stared at it, the feeling of shame washing over me. MacCready caught me glaring at the uniform before I turned my head away from it. I couldn’t stand to look at it.

I walked over to the other side of the small room and found an outfit I liked. I snickered. Of course I’d pick the road leathers to place underneath my combat armor. It satisfied my inner wild child. 

I tried the outfit on to see how MacCready would react. His eyes grew wide when I walked out of the dressing room. Guess I looked good in this. I snickered and handed Becky her payment.

“Time to earn some caps,” I said as I looked around Diamond City. I was going to ask someone if they needed any help, and I decided to go to Moe, the older gentlemen with a sunburnt face wearing a baseball uniform who owned the Swatter shack. He looked the least friendly, though. 

“Swatters over here, get ya genuine swatters!” 

I frowned, looking back at MacCready before turning back to look at Moe. “What?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Remember, Swatters will win you the game. The game of beating people up, that is. 

I blinked as he held up his baseball bat, which I prayed he knew was the actual name of that hunk of wood, not ‘swatter.’ I hesitated before finally asking the question. “What is a swatter?”

He laughed. “Rookie, eh? A swatter, my friend, is a Diamond City tradition. See it used to be that this whole place was a stadium. And two teams would meet and play a game called baseball,” he spoke slowly as if I was an actual moron. “One team would beat the other team to death with things called baseball bats, and the best bats were called swatters. True fact.”

I blinked a few times before letting out a breath. I shook my head. I raised my eyebrows curiously. I started laughing, shaking my head. “Oh, man. Awesome. I wonder what other sports this new world got totally fucking wrong. Oh, man.” I walked away from him, still laughing as MacCready flashed me a weird look.

“I thought you were going to ask him for work, old timer,” he spoke rudely. 

I rolled my eyes at him and flashed him a smirk. “Please, do not tell me you think those things are swatters, and that baseball was played by people beating the ever living fucks out of each other.”

He furrowed his eyebrows together and stopped walking right in front of the hair salon. I could hear John speaking to the older client he was currently working on, I folded my arms and turned my attention to MacCready. “You’re acting as if I care how baseball was played in the olden days,” he scoffed.

I grinned. “Okay, tough guy. Let’s ask someone else if they have any work. I had a feeling Moe was going to give me an insultingly low amount of caps for my work, anyways.”

He rolled his eyes, but he didn’t respond. He didn’t have the chance to, because someone had bumped into me.

“Woah, I’m sorry, miss,” the man spoke. He wore a clean tan suit and a tattered fedora. He was probably about ten years older than me, a blue-eyed man with a light complexion. He was so pale I wondered if he’d ever gone outdoors before, and by the nervous look in his eye, perhaps he was some sort of hermit. 

“Accidents happen,” I shrugged. He smiled now, but he didn’t walk away, he just stood there, and when he opened his mouth to respond, I considered just how accidental him bumping into me was. 

“I notice you and your friend here are both armed to the teeth, and I was wondering if you could do some work for me.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “I’m listening.”

“There have been radscorpions surrounding my home for a few months now, but they used to just leave me alone. Recently, it seems they’ve multiplied, and there are at least fifteen of them. I can barely leave my house without getting hurt.”

I raised an eyebrow. He obviously made it out alright this time. “Okay. How’d you get out this time?”

He sighed, he looked ashamed as he talked, as if he were some big baby. “I bolted for it. I haven’t been able to come to Diamond City in so long, I was running low of supplies. Had to make the trip out here and pray I found someone who looked like they could hold their own. I can give you 300 caps for it.”

“What do I look like, a fool?” I scoffed. “Fifteen vicious radscorpions, twenty caps a piece? That’s insultingly low.”

"We're not a charity, you know," MacCready assertively agreed. 

He sighed in defeat. “You’re right. 450.”

“Deal.”

 

\--

We told the settler that he could come back to his homestead, which was conveniently about fifteen feet away from Graygarden. We’d have until night to take them out and wait for him to meet us here once he was done bartering in Diamond City, which’d take the whole day, he said. He gave us 100 caps up front, the last 350 would be given once the task was complete. 

“After we do this stupid job, we’re going to Goodneighbor for a drink,” MacCready spoke as we walked across the bridge towards our client’s homestead, Scott Farm. 

I scoffed, taking in the view of the water as the sun started to set. It was already seven o’clock, and we’d have about three hours to kill all of the radscorpions before Mr. Scott came home. By the time we arrived in Goodneighbor, it’d be around one AM, if I listened to MacCready’s stupid plan this time. “It’d be pretty late by the time we arrive.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “Never too late to drink, angel,” he spoke while flashing me a grin. I bit my lip and turned my head to look straight ahead, and I could feel his gaze burning in the back of my skull.


	7. Flashback

It took us about two hours to kill all of the radscorpions, and it was like whack a mole with stingers and tons of pain. It definitely didn’t feel like it was worth 450 measly caps, but I wasn’t about to complain. I harvested stingers, eggs and radscorpion meat, all useful supplies. One even had five caps on them, for some odd reason. 

We didn’t expect Mr. Scott for another hour, so MacCready and I situated ourselves on the bench next to Mr. Scott’s house. I was rubbing my wrist, I had dislocated it during the fight, and the Stimpak hadn’t fully healed it just yet. I was considering taking some Med-X, but I also didn’t want to walk home high as a kite.

“So,” MacCready started as he lit a cigarette. “Are we gonna talk about last night?”

I felt my cheeks begin to burn, pressing my hands onto my face with a groan. “I’d prefer not to.”

“Well, too bad, because we’re talking about it,” he spoke, taking a drag of his cigarette. 

“Why ask if I had no choice?” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest stubbornly. “Look, we were drunk, and—“

“—Oh come on,” he spoke calmly. “You were coherent, and so was I.”

I hesitated, rolling my eyes. “Yeah, okay, I-. . . I don’t know, I’ve been feeling. . . “ I was glad it was so dark right now under the softly illuminated sky beneath the moon, because my cheeks were red as tatos. Yeah, just lust, that was it. 

He snickered softly, I didn’t have to finish my sentence. He caught my drift. “Well, I can’t say I’m not flattered, because I totally am,” he took a drag. He didn’t know it, but I could see the blush on his cheeks. “Okay, we can pretend like it never happened, if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah, that’s what I want,” I spoke, biting my lip. It was going to be nearly impossible to pretend I hadn’t held his dick in my hand just last night. Oh, boy. He had touched me in ways my ex-boyfriend never cared to touch me in. 

“You know, your expression betrays your words,” he mused, and I realized I had been thinking with my bottom lip between my teeth, eyes half-lidded, cheeks flushed. “But, whatever you say, boss.” He put out his cigarette as Mr. Scott became to approach us. He carefully examined the ground as he walked, protectively holding his back in case of any leftover intruder jumping up to pinch him, but he was relieved when nothing came out to attack. 

“Thank you so much,” Mr. Scott spoke as he handed me the rest of my payment. “I can finally continue my work now.”

I smiled. “It was my pleasure. See you around,” I spoke with a nod as MacCready and I began our venture back to Goodneighbor, the air silence and tense between us.

\--

“So what do you have to tell me about Goodneighbor?” I questioned as we began walking across the bridge again, but this time, towards Goodneighbor. 

“Well, Goodneighbor was actually kind of my home before I moved into Sanctuary. I was working out of The Third Rail in Goodneighbor as a hired gun, Nora bought my services, and I haven’t been back since. It’s not the cleanest place around, or the friendliest, but I appreciate it all the same. Mayor Hancock is one of my best pals, the bar is amazing . . . Really, our type of place.”

“Our type?” I questioned in surprise and a frown. We weren’t far from the entrance of Diamond City now. We had to pass Diamond City in order to get to Goodneighbor. MacCready stopped walking, he turned to face me. 

“It’s no secret that Nora isn’t particularly fond of my lifestyle. She doesn’t like stealing like I do, she doesn’t like being selfish, like I do, she just doesn’t really understand that this is a dog eat dog world. Always trying to help people, you know? Some people can’t be helped, or shouldn’t be. It’s pointless.” He scoffed. “But you, you get it. Don't think I didn’t see you snake that Nuka Cola Quantum at Taka’s. I had no idea you had sticky fingers. You timed it perfectly.”

I grinned at his compliment. I thought no one saw me do that. “Gotta take what you need. No shame in that.” I pursed my lips. “I don’t know much about who Nora was before the war,” I spoke, I shrugged. “I was always a bad egg, though, even when I wasn’t. My parents always pegged me as one,” I shrugged. “Growing up, my parents made it clear that they favored my older sister, Ella. They put all of their work into her, all of their money to her, she was always the best dressed, she always had the best hair. I got her hand-me-downs, I cut my hair myself whenever it grew too long. If Ella’s hair was a centimeter too long, man, you’d bet she’d be in my mom’s car on the way to the barber. Well, when we got older, my parents made it clear that they didn’t think I’d benefit from college. They didn’t think I was smart enough to finish, so they put all of their money towards Ella’s education, and they told me to hit the road on my eighteenth birthday. I remember packing my things, and they were too busy setting up her transfer paperwork for her to finish her Master’s to say goodbye.” I shrugged. “Family isn’t important to me. I trust no one. Nora has hope left that she can get her son back, she has trust in the people of the Commonwealth because she’s always been neighborly. I’ve been fighting to survive for as long as I can remember.”

MacCready took in my words. We were already walking towards Goodneighbor, with him leading of course. I hadn’t the slightest clue how to get there, of course. I would save the location on my pip-boy once we arrived, though. “I had no idea,” he spoke. “That sounds rough. I never knew my parents, maybe it’s better I didn’t. Adults always. . . Complicated things.”

“I understand that completely,” I spoke in response. “You probably know that from what I’ve told you, though.”

He smiled before he began walking, I stayed close to him in order to follow which steps he took. It helped me learn his stealthy foot patterns. “You already know about Little Lamplight. But I never told you how I made it to The Commonwealth, did I?” he finally asked.

“Hmm, no,” I murmured softly in response.

“Well, when I hit sixteen, I ended up wandering the Capital Wasteland for a while. I took the odd job here and there, but things were pretty hot with the Brotherhood of Steel running the show. So I hitched a ride with a caravan and made my way north until I ended up here. Made a decent name for myself before I heard that the gunners needed some sharpshooters. Biggest mistake of my life. Glad that chapter of my life is forever over, thanks to Nora. . . “ He sighed. “She and I killed the Gunners who wouldn’t stop harassing me.”

“Well, sounds like Nora is quite the friend,” I spoke, I turned my gaze away from him. “Rosemary was my first and only true friend. Too bad she’s long gone now,” I sighed. “Everyone I knew before is dead now.” 

“You know, I’d like to think of you as my friend,” MacCready spoke. “You get me.”

I snorted at his comment. “Funny, because it seems to me we’ve bickered since the moment we’ve met.”

“Well, this may come as a shocker to you, but you’re kind of an a-hole,”

Heh. Yeah, I was. “Yeah, but you’re not here because you like me. You’re here for the caps. If Nora didn’t mean so much to you, and didn’t give you a generous payment, you wouldn’t be here.”

He stopped walking now. “Hey, that’s not entirely true,” he turned to me now with a concerned look on his face. I hated that look. I wasn’t used to it. 

I shifted uncomfortably, I didn’t meet his gaze. “No one’s ever been nice to me just because they wanted to be. No one’s ever had good intentions towards me.” 

He sighed. “Look, Betty, I’m trying to get by just like everyone else. Doesn’t mean I can’t befriend the people I meet along the way.”

“Who's there?” The thick, loud shout of a Super Mutant ran through the alley sharply. MacCready quickly ducked behind an old dumpster, I followed suit, pressing myself against the brick wall behind us. Shit, we didn’t even have eyes on him. I checked my Pip Boy, finding four different red dots on my navigation system’s directional compass. 

“Four enemies,” I warned in a whisper. 

“Find ‘em, find ‘em!” MacCready shouted once we were under fire, after he took a shot to the shoulder and I took one in my right forearm, gasping in pain as MacCready’s blood was lost in my own, covering our wounded limbs and faces from blood spatter. 

I quickly pulled out my Overseer’s Guardian, firing a round into the head of the Super Mutant who had started to run at us in full speed with a bladed wooden board. He collapsed, throwing his weapon at me, and it cut me on my thigh, right below my nasty scar on my thigh. 

All of a sudden, the pain in the familiar area had me shrieking as the memories flooded back. . . .All of them. I remembered just how the scar came to look so horrific.

..

“Dr. Wellingham, this hardly seems ethical. We were given her as she was already fatally wounded. Her fatal wound is gone. The experiment was a success. Why do you still have her here?”

“Suzie, dear, we only have one record so far of cell regeneration with cryopods. Do you understand how ridiculous that will sound, after America recovers from this war, and we come to them with one single report using a prime specimen like Miss. Jett? They would be outraged to learn their money only got them one test. I’m testing to see how long a re-opened fatal wound reforms on the patient’s body, and how long it takes to heal” 

The pod was opened, my eyes went from shut to wide open when I analyzed the conversation in my head, the faint background noises becoming clear to me. “No, no!” I screamed as the doctor grabbed my shoulder, holding me still as his other hand took out a knife, slicing into my healed scar. I let out a shriek in pain as I shuddered, I felt the hot blood pool down my cold, thawing thigh, the blood leaving my body once more, the familiar pain of death as my femoral artery spurted my life out quickly as the Doctor held me up. 

“Peter! Are you mad?! I can’t stitch her that fast, she’s lost that much blood already! She will die if she doesn’t get in the pod!”

“Just do it quickly, even if you sew it wrong, it’ll shut somehow in the cryopod.”

I was placed onto the cold table, I heard glass shatter as something was thrown off of the surface hastily. Suddenly, I felt a pair of unwelcome hands grip onto my thigh as a needle pierced the already throbbing wound. My heart was beating so fast, the doctor suddenly stopped as I started to seize on the table. 

“She’s in shock, we have no time! Throw her in the damned pod!” 

I felt someone pick me up, I was a few feet higher in the air in someone’s grip, I writhed in their arms, slamming my head against the inside of the cryopod and blacked out. 

Hours later, the voices were back. They woke me up, and I gasped at how uncomfortable my body felt. I tried my best to focus on the conversation, to cling onto the words as if they’d keep me alive. I tried to ignore the pain.

“Peter, I know the cryopod heals internally, but without that wound properly stitched, the skin will be uneven. It will need surgery to fix the amount of deformed tissue.”

“Perfect. Do you know what this means? We’ll learn the recovery rate of minor surgeries. More data.” 

“Sometimes, Peter, I just don’t recognize you anymore.”

..

“Betty! Betty!” MacCready shouted. “Oh, God!” I felt something pierce my body, causing me to gasp as my eyes snapped open. I shot up, my eyes immediately landing on my thigh. My wound wasn’t fatal, but I was definitely shaken by the injury. I was shaking so hard I could barely stay focused on anything. My heart was pounding a mile a minute, everything was a blur, holy shit, holy shit! Vault-Tec, the memories, the traumatic fucking memories. I couldn’t breathe, my throat was closing, I felt my body go numb. “Wake up, soldier!” MacCready shouted, it was the only thing I could hear in my disassociated state, but once I heard it, it was like flicking on a light-switch. 

Those words shot adrenaline through my body as I gripped tighter onto my gun, raising it to aim as I unloaded four bullets into a Super Mutant’s chest, consecutive shots before landing a devastating headshot that sent his head flying into the Mutant behind him. 

“No, brother! I will kill you for that!” The Mutant picked up his mini-gun, speaking in his dumb, stunted, deep roar, pauses in between each word as he attempted to annunciate, but before he could get his mini-gun going, I watched as his eye burst, he made barely any noise as the gunshot instantly killed him. I grinned at MacCready, impressed at his accuracy. 

I spun around, aiming my gun at the Mutant Hound that had made itself known, howling loudly, but the only backup it had were the three Mutants, but they were dead. I took no pleasure in killing animals, but the Mutant Hound was a vicious creature. I unloaded a few bullets into his head, a fast, painless death. I collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. I had used up all of my energy taking those men down after such an intense, painful flashback. I turned to MacCready in surprise. “How did you know that was going to snap me back into reality?” 

“I heard some stories about how they used to train soldiers pre-war. Trained you guys to fight like machines for your country. If you were half as good as you said you were, I knew it’d snap you out of that.” 

I cursed at my crimson soaked pant leg. Had it been any higher, it’d look like that special time of the month. Oh, how embarrassing. 

I was going to change into my Vault Suit before we reached Goodneighbor, there was no way I’d be comfortable in bloody road leathers. “At least the wound closed, thanks to that Stimpak.” 

“That leg’s gonna slow us down. . . “ He sighed worriedly. “What happened?” He asked. “Why’d you freak out? I’ve seen you suffer worse injuries than that.” 

I shifted my gaze from his. “I remembered what they did to me. How they experimented on me in the vault. The pain from the mutant throwing that blade, it slicing my thigh, that familiar feeling. . . Got the gears spinning.” 

“God, what did they do to you?” He asked. I hesitated, looking at him, but then I looked at the abandoned building next to us. I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the door and in the corner of the room where we could talk instead of out in the open, you know, like people just waiting to get sniped. 

That familiar distrust settled in my head, but I pushed it away once I realized I didn’t have much of a choice but to talk it out with him. After all, he was a person who deserved information on these things, as he was paid to cover my ass in combat. This was my comrade, and I had to ensure he wasn’t put in harm’s way because of secrets I refused to tell him. 

“I, well. . .” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “Dr. Peter Wellingham led the research team who experimented and operated on me. Suzie Wezler and Sal Prowitz were the surgeons paid by Vault-Tec to assist Wellingham. He had an affair with Dr. Wezler, after learning his wife ‘turned ghoul. Basically, Wellingham went crazier and crazier as time passed with no word above ground from Vault Tec, and assumed it was because he didn’t have enough data. He ended up reopening my wound, and one time, he waited too long before allowing Suzie to sew me up, so the wound on my thigh couldn’t line up properly when I was thrown back into the pod, and so they had to operate on me after that to make sure my thigh wasn’t horribly disfigured. Two separate operations. Suzie felt bad, and she wanted me to look normal again, but the scar, it’s still so. . . “ I put my head in my hands. “Haunting.” I whispered. 

“That wasn’t the only crazy thing he did to me. He’d make slices of different depth and record the time it took for them to heal. Would pull me out of the pod and continue his torture, even though I’d scream, but after so long of getting carved like a pumpkin, and no water, no med-x, no stimpaks, my voice became hoarse, I became dizzier, I became less willing to struggle. I’d given up hope. The only moments I was conscious were moments where I’d feel nothing but fear and pain, and the panic as your life slips away, only to be restored over and over again. Well, the last conversation I remember was the one Dr. Wezler had with Dr. Prowitz. Dr. Prowitz was convincing Dr. Wezler to help him “take care of” Dr. Wellingham, as they feared him for his obvious insanity. They didn’t agree with his methods. I’m guessing their plan worked, but why was I stuck in there for so long? Why did no one let Nora and I out earlier? Where did they go?” I sighed. “Why was I given to Vault-Tec?” And then the question I silently asked myself: Why didn’t I just die?

MacCready sighed. “Those bastards. Nora told me she just woke up and broke herself out of the pod. You were locked away, hidden, stuck in a pod with a broken latch. You could have died in there.” 

I felt the tears well up in my eyes. “I was left behind. . . Oh, I was so scared, I was so scared. . . I thought they were going to kill me. Each time, my life flashed before my eyes, and I slipped so close to death to just be brought right back repeatedly.” The tears started to roll down my cheeks. I hadn’t cried once through this whole ordeal, but the memories were too much to handle. “Every time I was conscious, I was close to death. Hungry, thirsty, sliced and carved, in excruciating pain, and. . . I almost died so many times. But it never stopped, and then the last time he took me out, Wellingham gave me a concussion so bad I wouldn’t wake up. That’s probably why my memories are taking so long to come back, I was asleep for a long time, my brain didn’t even have time to process or reboot. All of the unnatural procedures they put my mind through. I don’t know, I’m no Doctor. It did a number on me though. I feel like I just finally woke up.” I wiped my eye and let out a sigh, I was shaking. I had disallowed myself to asses what happened to me in the Vault, but now, it was unavoidable. The memories, the way I felt, God, the torture. It was all so much. I had been through too much to keep on going without the occasional mental breakdown. “I’m sorry. I’m pathetic.” 

He didn’t respond, he just pulled me into a tight hug. I unraveled in his arms, the tears slipping down my cheeks in what felt like rivers as I let myself go weak, I let myself let the guard down I’d always kept up. I was a wounded soldier with PTSD, two hundred years after my country was annihilated. I was a prisoner of the evil corporate conglomerate Vault-Tec had become thanks to the United States Armed Forces. I was a victim of experimental torture, and I was forced to cope with all of it. I knew if I didn’t keep it together in this cruel, unforgiving world, I’d die. Everyone had problems, I wasn’t the only one with a sob story, but I couldn’t help but lose myself in the moment as all of my ideals and appreciation of my country just collapsed like the buildings that suffered nuclear damage to their errors. I was forced to do awful, awful things for a country annihilated due to its own atrocities. 

But for right now, I was allowed to allow myself the emotions that flooded me, the warmth of MacCready’s embrace cut the thoughts that poisoned my mind, my eyes squeezing shut as I buried my head into the crook of his neck, my eyelashes bushing against his skin as he allowed me to calm down before he let me go, his touch blanketing me with comfort. I was so used to violence, to distrust, but right now, I couldn’t bring myself to hate this moment. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything mean, to punch him in the arm, all I could do was allow myself this moment of weakness, and to accept the comfort I had no idea I needed.

When he pulled away, I almost protested at the lack of warmth, I hadn’t been held so protectively for as long as I could remember, but I also didn’t want to give my feelings away. I didn’t want to seem weaker than I probably already looked. I stood up and cleared my throat, waiting for him until he walked out of the door and continued the walk to Goodneighbor. I followed silently behind.


	8. Goodneighbor

“Nothing says welcome like urine soaked garbage,” MacCready spoke with a wrinkled nose as soon as we walked through the door. I snickered at his comment and followed as he led me past the benches and the two vendors until we passed a few basements. We ended up in front of a building with a short hallway leading to a single brown door. 

“That’s The Third Rail,” MacCready spoke, pointing at the brown door. He pointed to the balcony above. “That’s where Mayor Hancock gives his speeches. He’s the coolest ghoul in the Commonwealth. There’s The Memory Den over there, and that building to the left is The Hotel Rexford, if you want to get a room for the night before we head out on our next adventure.”

I wasn’t sure what our next adventure was. I wanted to meet The Brotherhood of Steel, but I also intended on keeping my promise about helping Nora. I wanted to make sure the positive ideals I learned from the Military could be channeled into The Minutemen, creating the militia I would have loved to be a part in pre-war. I wanted to help her make weaponry and armor for the faction. I decided I just wanted to talk to The Brotherhood and figure out their operations, and make a decision from that. I would definitely ally with both forces, but naturally I’d be pooling more of my time into one cause, and I wasn’t sure which cause that was, yet. I had no clue what the Brotherhood’s motives were, but alas, it seldom mattered, as the Minutemen would come first.

“Let’s go get a drink,” I spoke, I turned to walk through the single brown door, but before I could, something smacked me back against the wall, knocking the wind out of me. I gasped. 

“Hand over the Pip Boy, and no one gets hurt,” a raspy voiced man spoke, his forearm pinning me against the wall by my neck, holding a knife to my cheek. I gasped when I realized his face was completely ruined, bits of dead flesh and scabs and holes littered his face, his nose was missing, and his eyes were black. 

Well, my first encounter with normal ghouls was not a pleasant one. MacCready was about to grab the guy when a voice stopped both men. 

“Hey hey hey, what’s going on here?” I heard another raspy voiced man speak, and I turned to see another ghoul wearing a trifold hat and a red frock coat. His black eyes surveyed the situation. 

MacCready grabbed the man who had me pinned and threw him onto the ground, pinning him down with just his firmly planted boot on the man’s chest. MacCready pointed his rifle at the man’s head. “Hancock! Hey buddy. This bastard was trying to mug my boss here for her pip boy.”

“Hey MacCready,” the ghoul grinned. “Pip Boy, huh?” The man spoke, turning to look at me. “I know only one other person with a Pip Boy.”

“It’s not Nora’s, if that’s what you’re asking,” I spoke. I wasn’t sure how this Hancock fellow was yet, he hadn’t made any negative or positive notions or actions towards me yet. 

Hancock nodded before turning to the man MacCready was pinning, taking out a double barrel shotgun, shooting the man in the head. MacCready moved his foot off of the now lifeless man, and Hancock looked at me. “Sorry about that, sister. Hope this didn’t ruin your image of Goodneighbor. We haven’t had any violent muggings in quite some time. What’s your name?”

“Betty,” I spoke, and I smiled at him. I liked him. He was a very respectable man. “Goodneighbor gets my seal of approval, knowing someone like you runs it.”

Hancock laughed softly, tilting his head slightly as he looked at me. “I’m flattered,” he spoke smoothly. I shivered. I was pretty impressed by this man, and he was really quite alluring. I couldn’t help but be charmed. 

MacCready cleared his throat. “Well, Hancock, we were going to go grab a drink, if you wanted to join us.”

Hancock turned to look at MacCready now. “Thanks for the offer MacCready, but I actually have some chems with my name on ‘em upstairs, and Fahrenheit’s been waiting to join me for hours. You guys have fun. See you around,” he spoke, flashing me a charming grin before walking off.

“Wow, he is awesome,” I breathed. 

He shook his head with a sigh, leading me through the brown door. We found a man with a black fedora, dressed in a tux waiting by a brown door frame. In front of the left side of the doorframe sat an aged side table and with a carton of cigarettes placed on it, and on the right side, a fading, dusty red armchair. “Come on in, bar’s right down the stairs,” The ghoul spoke.  

We nodded politely at him. The doorway led to a blue hallway with stairs leading down into a dimly lit room. We walked down the stairs and into the bar, and I took in my surroundings. In the far left corner, there was a stage with a beautiful woman in a red dress singing, and next to her was the bar table manned by a Mr. Handy sporting a British flag. There were some seats available to the right of the bar, but MacCready led me to another room, one that had a few red sofas and soft yellow bulbs lighting the room, giving it a soft red tone. The tiling of the floor was cracked, aged, but the room was fairly kept. He sat on the red chair beside a bottle of bourbon and a box of cigars, and accepted the two beers the Mr. Handy handed him. 

“Thank you,” MacCready spoke, taking out his bag of caps. 

“Courtesy of Hancock,” the Mr. Handy spoke before going back to his bar. 

“That’s Whitechapel Charlie. Remember how I said I used to kind of live here? I’d sit in this room on this couch and wait for my clients to come find me. I’ve had a lot of business here, actually. Got Whitechapel Charlie more caps from the extra foot traffic, too.” 

“Ah,” I spoke, taking the beer he handed me before sitting down on one of the couches, leaning against the armrest. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh, exhaustion hitting me like a truck. “Who is the singer?”

“Her name is Magnolia. Er, boss, you seem a little. . . Exhausted.” He hesitated before making a decision. “We’ll take these beers to go,” MacCready spoke with a sigh, putting the beer bottles into his bag before picking me up bridal style. I squeaked at the sudden change of elevation. He looked skinny, but he picked me up almost effortlessly. I didn’t object, instead I let myself doze off against his chest.


	9. Radiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Didn't realize how short this was until I posted it. This is probably the shortest chapter I have. Don't worry, there are 200 pages of this story, and 30 chapters.

. . .  
. .  
.  
October 25th, 2077

After The Great War

Vault 111

 

“Damn!” I shouted as I opened my eyes to find Doctor Wellingham’s eyes on me, the pod had lifted moments before. “No, no, why am I awake?” I questioned in a shaky gasp. He smiled at me, his eyes reminded me of the pictures we’d look over in The Military, files of prisoners that had gone insane, and it was enough to make me plead for death, its sweet release from this wretched life of torture on the daily.

“Calm down, Betty, we’re not going to take you out of the pod, I’m just going to give this to you,” he spoke, taking a syringe out. I inspected it curiously. “We’re going to test if radiation damage can be repaired, but don’t you worry, if something happens, like you grow a third arm out of your stomach, we can cut that right off—After experimentation, of course. As for your reproductive system, well, it’s all for the procedure. You understand, right? I’m sorry, but after this, you may not be so fertile.”

“Go to hell!” I snapped, but he looked genuinely surprised by my words.

“Betty, this is for the greater good. Aren’t you a soldier? What happens when we pull out of this Nuclear fallout, and there are millions of people who could be helped by this very device we’re testing you in? Don’t you want them to live?” he questioned. “Isn’t it your duty to protect civilians?”

I felt a lump in my throat as I squeezed my eyes shut. When we pull out of this nuclear fallout? We hadn’t already? It’s been weeks. “Does the Military know what you’re doing to me?” I asked with a cracking voice. My throat was so parched, I could barely talk without hurting. 

Wellingam’s eyes narrowed. “We have gotten no word back. But it’s because they are very busy repairing the world up top, I am sure of it.”

“Has anyone at all reached you?” I demanded for answers now. “Your family? Your colleagues’ family?”

“Just another Vault,” he snapped at me, he seemed to have snapped out of his delusion, and now, he was just angry. “But of course my family can’t contact me, I bet their lines of communications have been severed, but they’ll answer soon enough! Soon enough.” He stared shaking. “Now,” he pulled the syringe upwards, grabbing my arm. I yanked my arm back, punching him in the head, causing him to stumble over before flinging himself back at me, elbowing me in the head, my head colliding with a metal piece of the cryopod. My vision blurred before the searing, burning pain entered my arm, and I let out a harsh shriek as it felt like fire was being injected directly into my veins, and when I started to convulse and sweat in pain, the pod closed in front of me, and I saw the rough outline of the devil through the glass window before my hazy vision blurred to nothingness, as I went back to cryostasis.


	10. Heat

I shot up in the bed, gasping, my chest heaving. Oh, great, now that I remembered Vault 111, it was going to haunt my dreams. I had dreamt that I was lying on that icy cold table, the smug asshole burning me, slicing me, punching me, stabbing me, you name it, just to see how long it’d take for those to heal up. I wondered how extensive that radiation damage was. I never imagined myself having kids before, but being robbed of the opportunity felt. . . .Terrible. 

Maybe I didn’t deserve to be a mother, and the pain of that fact, the pain of what Vault-Tec put me through. . . It wasn’t as painful as reliving the three years I spent slaving away. Those nightmares were still in full supply. Great, enough nightmare fuel to go around. 

I was in a bed by myself. I guessed MacCready had gotten us a room at the Hotel Rexford, and made a mental note to reimburse him for that later. I checked my Pip Boy and realized I had been sleeping for four hours. It was only nine o’clock at night.

I inspected the room more. The twin bed was at the corner of the room, a small cooking station by the bathroom door, and a table and chair that looked like it was made thirty years before my birth, and dropped down a flight of stairs. 

MacCready was sitting at the small dinner table, drinking his beer. He had something in his hands, it looked like. . . A carved green man? I couldn’t get a good look. Once I had made it known I was awake, he stuffed the item into his pocket, rubbing his eyes with his arm as if to hide something. He had looked sad, torn, and. . . A bit guilty. I didn’t mean to intrude on his moment, but his eyes were on me, obviously confused by my sudden jolt. 

“Don’t mind me, just a stupid nightmare,” I smiled reassuringly. I didn’t want to talk about it. Not ever. “Started without me?” I questioned. He looked up to catch my eyes. I felt my heart speed up at the sudden eye contact. He cleared his throat, the sadness still remained, but it wasn’t as intense now. I must have snapped him out of a daze. 

“Not my fault your lazy butt likes to sleep.” His remark had me pulling myself out of the bed.

I scoffed, sitting across from him as he opened my drink for me, handing it to me. I took a swig before leaning back in the chair. “My leg is better.”

“Good,” He spoke. He bit his lip as we sat there in silence now. I was lost in the thoughts of how close we got to having sex last night. I bit my lip, remembering the feel of his body against mine.

“Betty?” MacCready spoke suddenly. I turned to look at him, my eyes as wide as dinner plates, my cheeks flushed. “Look, I’ve been thinking—“

Oh, god. “Oh, just- . . .No, nope, you promised,” I spoke quickly, my palms extended as I attempted to motion at him to just stop. God, this was even more uncomfortable, he could see how red my face had become. 

“Come on, Betty, we have to talk about it,” he sighed. “Look, I just wanted to make it clear, I don’t know what I want. I’m. . .Still getting over the loss of Lucy, so if you’re looking for something more, I don’t know if I could give that to you,” he licked his chapped lips. “Hell, I’m also not sure what you even want. You’re not exactly so easy to read.”

He needed me to tell him how I felt, he needed to know how to play this little thing we had going on, but I wasn’t ready to tell him I had feelings. I wasn’t ready to admit they were there, lingering, causing me to glance at him more often than usual just to check up on him, to make sure I wasn’t dragging the poor man across The Commonwealth. 

I waved my hand dismissively. “Last night was purely physical,” I spoke, but something inside of me wanted to disagree. I chose not to correct myself. 

He pursed his lips. That was the answer I had given him, and now it was time to eagerly wait for his response. He looked conflicted. “Would you have tried it if you were sober, or was it just a drunken mistake?” 

“Yeah.” I said bluntly. Life was too short for beating around the bush. Even so, I was really mortified at my own honesty, and decided leaving the room would be the best option to get my face to cool the hell off. 

My cheeks heated up, I closed my eyes and let out a sigh before standing up, walking over to the sink in the bathroom, but before I could turn the sink on, I felt a presence behind me. I turned and met eyes with MacCready, who hovered over me, just a mere inch away from me. He kept his hands off of me, just looked me in the eyes, which told the same story mine did: We wanted this. I ran my hands up his chest before cupping his face, smashing my lips onto his. He hungrily kissed back, his hands sliding down my waist, cupping my ass with his strong, firm hands as his tongue slid itself into my mouth. I felt the instant wave of pleasure hit me like a truck as the feeling of his mouth on mind excited me to no end. His lips were so soft, his tongue skilled, and he tasted like everything I desired. The kiss was everything I’d imagine it’d be, and it was the first kiss that got my heart beating and my palms sweaty. I let out a moan as his hands lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He brought me out of the bathroom and placed me against the wall near the bed, my breasts pressed against his chest, my fingers tangled in his hair, causing his hat to fall off. He attacked my neck with hungry kisses. He thrust his hips into mine, grinding his hard cock against my dampness. Fuck. 

“I’ve been thinking of doing this to you all day,” He spoke softly into my ear, his soft breath tickling my ear. I shivered and let out a moan of delight as he pressed his hips into mine again before throwing me down onto the bed. I started to pull at his duster, but he slapped my hands away and went for my vault suit first, unzipping it desperately, getting to my breasts. He undid my bra, his mouth latching on to my right nipple, playing with it gently with his teeth, his other hand diving into my panties, touching my wet sex, his finger sliding in between my folds, resting on the entrance of my pussy. I bit my lip as his fingers started to slowly massage my clit. I let out a gasped moan at his touches, and it spurred him on to keep touching me. I had never had anyone touch me quite like this before, he was so attentive. 

I started tugging at his pants, and he removed his hands to take the pants off, causing me to let out a whine at the removal of his hands. “You wanted it off,” he spoke, removing his duster as well. He left white underwear on, but I could see the outline of his hard member. I bit my lip, my thoughts roaming as he pulled my vault suit off of my limbs completely, throwing my bra to the other side of the room, pulling my panties off. “Fuck, your body is mesmerizing,” he moaned. I shivered at the sound of his swear word. 

His lips on my skin were like ice, and I felt so very hot, the way he made me feel had me clutching anything I could grab onto to resist making embarrassing noises. I couldn’t help but regret not doing this with MacCready much, much sooner, but then again, I didn’t trust him like I did now.

Or maybe that was just the lust talking. 

“Just. . .Get inside of me,” I moaned. He was surprised by my words, but he took his underwear off, revealing his hard member, which was ready for me. Now that I got a good luck at him, I realized he was a pretty decent size, bigger thicker than my ex boyfriend was. It was actually quite impressive, and I felt myself turning beet red once I realized I had been staring. He obviously noticed, and he had a knowing grin. 

“Well, you’re making me blush,” He kissed me fiercely as he placed the head of his dick at my entrance, slowly pushing into me. I gasped as my body adjusted to the feeling I had only felt once before, but this time, it felt fucking amazing. It felt as if he was stretching me the deeper he pushed in, and once he was fully in, we both shivered in pleasure. I gasped as my body tensed at the barely familiar feeling, and he took my hips, rubbing circles into them, his teeth latching into the soft flesh of my neck. My breathing hitched as he nipped and sucked until the skin had a tingly, sensitive feeling, and I relaxed underneath him. I could feel his cock twitch in me as he let out a shaky moan now. It had clearly been a while for him, as it had been clear I was barely experienced. He didn’t seem to mind, though. 

He started to move his hips, and I let out a moan, my fingers grabbing a hold of his hair again as his thrusts became faster and harder, he let out a small noise of pleasure as I started to thrust against him as well, meeting his tempo, craving more of him inside me, harder, faster. It was a good type of pain as he thrust himself as deep as possible, realizing I loved being on the verge of pain while experiencing overwhelming pleasure. We were in sync now, and I pulled his head to mine, biting his lip, making him groan into my mouth as he gripped my hips so hard I knew it would leave bruises. He pulled out me suddenly, flipping me around so I was on all fours, sliding into me from behind. I gasped as he grabbed my hips again, letting out a hiss as he slid in deeper than before, but it was replaced with a moan as this angle felt so much better, my head collapsing into the pillow in front of me, pressing my face into it with a scream. I was coming undone at the feel of him pushing inside of me, and I knew he loved watching me come undone under him. His hands roamed my ass, and I turned to look at him now, his red cheeks, nearly breathless, desire and pleasure etched into his expression as he watched his cock disappear inside of me. His hand reached down to rub my clit now, urging me to orgasm.

My lower stomach started to coil, an unfamiliar feeling, a feeling I chased, until I came so hard my scream into the pillow was only slightly muffled, and MacCready had to quickly place his fingers in my mouth to pacify me. 

I went limp as the orgasm rolled through me, and his sloppy thrusts threw me over the edge once more, him spilling inside of me as I was shaken with my second orgasm. I collapsed in a sweaty heap on the bed, him beside me, gasping for breath. “I’ve never had one of those before.”

“One of what?” MacCready asked me curiously, propping himself up on his elbow before he looked at me in curiosity.

“An orgasm,” I admitted lamely. His jaw dropped. He had a look of pure disbelief. I shrugged. I wasn’t sure what else to say, besides the fact that that was the very sad truth. 

After a moment of deciding what to say, he finally came out with, “You have to be kidding me. A lot of selfish men in your past?”

I raised an eyebrow. He assumed I was someone with experience? Well, I guess that was awfully flattering. “One man, one time.”

“Wow,” He spoke with a sigh before he paused, his demeanor changing, and suddenly, he beamed. “I’m flattered to have rocked your world.” The look on his face showed me how much he reveled in this new knowledge, and damn, was he patting himself on the back. I rolled my eyes now. God, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.

Actually, nah. He deserved a pat on the back. 

“Well, I’m gonna get some sleep,” he spoke, putting his clothes back on. “Now I’m the one whose tired.”

I smiled before walking to the bathroom and cleaning myself up, putting my clothes back on, but I stopped in my tracks once the realization hit: I had just slept with MacCready.

“Oh, uh,” I spoke. Time to run away before this became something real, and he saw me for the monster I was. I didn’t want to fall for him, I couldn’t, he told me he wasn’t ready for that, and I almost kicked myself for my impulsivity, but I wanted this. If I had feelings beforehand, he wasn’t to blame for that. I was. Something I should have talked to him about, but of course, I didn’t. walked out of the bathroom and grabbed my bag, feeling the swarm of regret in my head. This probably meant he’d treat me differently, right? Once people got what they wanted, they left. “I uh, you sleep, I’m not tired since I already napped. I’ll be back in a few.”

“Where are you going?” He asked curiously as he sat up in the bed and watched me hastily tie my hair up in a ponytail.

“I-I. . .I forgot I. . . Had to go get some more ammo,” I spoke hastily. I started to head towards the door. 

After a long pause and pursed lips, he decided not to question me further. It was obvious he knew I was full of shit. “Huh, okay,” he responded before resting his head back down on the pillow as I grabbed my bag and left the room. Before I knew what I was doing, I was in The Third Rail with a beer in my hand drinking away my sorrows.

I thought it was purely physical, but it wasn’t. I liked him, and I was so stubborn that I didn’t want to admit it. I had feelings for him I’d never had for anyone before, one of those feelings being trust. I trusted that man with my life, and I trusted him with my heart. Something I never gave anyone. No one had ever deserved it.

He did.

And now, here I was, unable to tell him how I felt, knowing damn well he could reject me. He missed his wife, and I wasn’t her. I had gotten myself into this crazy situation, I had allowed myself to fall for someone, and this is where I knew I’d end up if I did. He could never possibly like someone like me, and I wasn’t sure why I was dumb enough to get wrapped up in this. Why was he stuck in my head? Why did I let him get stuck in here? God, too many thoughts, and not enough alcohol. 

Drinking my sorrows away, like just another end of the day routine as an MP. I wanted to hate MacCready for the bind he had on my mind, but I couldn’t—He did nothing wrong, I played myself. 

I groaned internally as I squeezed my eyes shut, taking another sip.

“Where’s MacCready?” the familiar, raspy voice of Hancock asked, he came into my peripheral vision as he sat on the stool next to me.

“Asleep,” I muttered. I took a hard swig without flinching. 

Hancock studied my face for a moment before he motioned to Whitechapel Charlie, who set a special glass in front of the mayor. From the looks of it, it was some of the finest alcohol the Commonwealth had to offer, and it was Hancock’s favorite. “You look like you need to spill your sorrows, sister. Well, you’ve come to the right place.”


	11. Hancock's Words of Wisdom

I told Hancock everything. Down to the last detail. By the time I was done talking, I was two beers in, and he was five beers in. Why was I so loose with such personal information? Was it the booze, or was it the sudden, newfound feeling of vulnerability? 

Man, I had to stop drinking. It was gonna get me killed.

We were currently in the separate, private red room MacCready had taken me into earlier tonight when we had first arrived here. We were sitting fairly close, not enough to be considered romantic, but enough to insinuate we were close, lifelong friends, although I had only just met him today. 

He whistled once I finished my story. He leaned back from his previous sitting position, which was the edge of the seat of his chair as I told him the tale of how I duped myself.  “Damn sister,” he spoke. “You’re. . . Dirtier than I thought.”

I blushed at that. “I haven’t ever felt like this before, it’s all new to me. Never exactly lusted after someone.”

He shook his head, lifting a finger in the air now, taking a quick sip of beer before he spoke. “No, I don’t think that’s just lust. Trust me, I’d know. That sounds a bit like. . . Love.”

I shuddered at his words. No, that was a bit extreme. Like, a lot, maybe, but love? That wasn’t possible. Especially not with all of my trust issues. Still, I didn’t argue with Hancock. He could be right, after all. “Sounds awful. Feels awful, in fact. What do I do?” I questioned, panicked. “I’ve never even really liked someone before, let alone love.” Never felt this damn vulnerable. And this was coming from a gal who had been tortured by Vault-Tec, and used by the government.

My mind was always sacred, and now, it was infiltrated, by a merc of all people. Jesus, Betty, come on. Get it together.

He scoffed. “Oh, come on, seriously? No one?”

“Never,” I responded. “Didn’t get along with my folks, didn’t feel a real connection based on emotion with my comrades, and never loved the man who I dated for a year in highschool. Never met anyone who deserved respect, let alone love.” 

He let out a soft sigh. “I think you like him because you admire him, and you feel like you can trust him. You feel like he understands you. Like he knows what you’ve been through,” he took another sip of his beer. He was almost finished with it. “And I mean, he has. He’s probably told you about himself What happened to his wife, his son. He’s just as broken as you, and trying to figure his shit out. Now, I’m not saying things will end up happily ever after, just know that you have to give it some time. Maybe don’t run away from this, and just go with it.”

Wow. “You take any mentats before this conversation, or are you always this good with advice?” I questioned, a grin plastered on my face. 

“Seems like you already know the answer to that question,” he snickered. 

“I appreciate this, Hancock,” I spoke. “I have no idea what caused me to trust you so damn fast, but I hope you don’t betray that trust.”

“Hey, don’t worry, I’m not like that,” Hancock spoke. “What’re you gonna do about this situation?”

I bit my lip. “Nothing yet. I’m not good with any of this. Besides, we’re not entirely that close yet.”

Hancock raised an eyebrow at this comment. “Are you sure about that? You know a hell of a lot more than the average Joe. He’s confided his past in you, and vice versa. Give him a chance to see you in this new light. Don’t jump the gun just yet. He’ll come around. I mean, look at you. Who wouldn’t want you?” He spoke, his eyes wandering for a moment before meeting my eyes.

I bat my eyelashes at him before chuckling. “Hancock, you are quite the charmer, you know that?”

“Hell, I pride myself on that.” He checked the clock on the wall, his eyes widening in surprise. “Wow, it’s late. You should go to bed, doll, it’s already Four A.M. I’ll catch you before you head out tomorrow,” he stood up from his chair, and I mimicked the action. “It was nice talking with you. You’re a pretty cool gal, you know that?”

“You’re a pretty stellar man yourself, Hancock,” I spoke. “I appreciate the help. I’ll make sure to stop by tomorrow morning.” I gave him a fist bump. I wasn’t a hugger. 

“Good luck,” he spoke, and I smiled and thanked him before turning around and walking through both doors, and up the stairs. I yawned, feeling the exhaustion take over me.

Once I was in the bed with MacCready, he stirred awake. He let out a small noise, turning over to look at me in the dark. “Betty?” he whispered. 

“No, it’s Jangles, the Moon Monkey,” I spoke with a roll of my eyes. He let out a small snicker before he fell back asleep. I started to doze off, my head resting against his arm, eyes fluttering shut.


	12. Heading Home

I would have had trouble sleeping through the nightmares, but I was comforted by MacCready’s warm body beside me whenever I woke up in fear that I was being tortured again in Vault 111. If it wasn’t Vault 111, it was the dark, evil things I’d done as a soldier, a reoccurring nightmare where I couldn’t wash blood off of my hands, and I’d wake up to my hands feeling wet until I snapped out of it. The only thing that calmed me down this time was MacCready’s sleeping form. I’d look beside me and see the soft features of MacCready’s face, the curve of his lips, the soft, neatly shaven goatee, his strong nose, sharp cheekbones, and gentle, closed eyes. He looked so peaceful. I wasn’t in Vault 111, and I also wasn’t in 2077 anymore. I was here, with MacCready in Goodneighbor, in 2287. I’d try to hold onto that warmth before laying back down next to him. I liked the feeling that I wasn’t alone. 

When I woke up for the last time this morning, I found myself with my hand on MacCready’s chest, my face buried into his right collar bone. His leg was entangled with mine, his arm wrapped around me, placed on my upper back. He was fast asleep. I closed my eyes, breathing in his delicious scent before he woke up. I wanted to see how he’d react to how we were sleeping. If he’d find it as endearing as I did.

He stirred now, the rhythm of his breathing changed, and he stopped his near-quiet, soft snores. I felt his hand move an inch down my back, he let out a soft chuckle, and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. He relaxed again, bringing me closer to him. I opened my eyes now, lifting my head up, making it obvious that I was now awake. 

“Mind not spreading yourself all across the bed next time?” he teased moving his arm and removing his legs from their spot in between mine. 

“Then stop being so damn comfortable,” I shot back boldly, causing him to smirk. 

“Comfortable? The word I was hoping for was “incredible.” But I’ll settle for comfortable.”

I hesitated. I wanted to tell him how I felt, but maybe this wasn’t the time. His eyes watched me curiously as I studied his handsome face. I cracked a grin. “You’re cute.”

He was surprised by my words, a blush littered his cheeks. “Aw, shucks.” His words were playful, but I could tell the words made him a bit bashful. 

I leaned forward and captured his lips in mine, he returned the kiss, his hand reaching for my waist. Once he found it, his hand snaked around it, pulling me closer to him, our bodies pressed together tight as he undulated his hips against mine. I let out a soft moan. “Damn, MacCready,” I moaned. He snickered.

“You can call me Robert, or RJ, you know. Around only me, and in these. . .Compromising positions.” 

I raised an eyebrow before snickering. “Robert. Wow. Didn’t expect that name.”

“Like Betty’s such a killer name.”

I lightly punched him in the arm, causing him to flip me so I was underneath him on the bed. “You wanna go?” he teased.

“I don’t know, _Robert_ ,” I snickered. “Kind’ve had some plans of my own.” I just wanted to please him in a different way now. “I have a present for you.”

He snickered as his teeth gently captured the small sliver of skin at the top of my ear.  “What is it?”

I responded by unzipping his pants and taking his semi-hard cock out of his pants, jerking him off in my hand as he slowly became harder. “Oh, Betty,” he moaned as my hand stroked him until he was fully erect, and I pushed him onto his back, lowering myself down until my mouth was wrapped around the head of his cock. I had done this three times with my ex boyfriend, and I actually liked it, but not with that guy. MacCready was much more attractive, and responsive. 

He moaned, gripping my hair, guiding me up and down his cock as I left sloppy licks up and down its length while keeping a nice suction on him, sliding my mouth as far as I could go, using my hand to jerk off the length I couldn’t fit into my mouth. “Fuck,” he cussed loudly, and it turned me on that he cussed without remorse. I loved making those naughty words fall from his lips. I picked up the pace until he finally twitched and came into my mouth, my name sliding off of his tongue effortlessly. I swallowed his cum before licking my lips, which he watched lustfully. “We can have more fun later when you’ve recovered from that,” I chuckled. Here I go again, making bad decisions. Oops.

“Or I could just go down on you now and return the favor,” He offered, his hands sliding along with the curve of my ass now. 

“Do what?” I questioned with a frown. 

He looked confused now, his brows furrowing together and his mouth turning into a frown. “Do you not know what I’m talking about?”

“No, I know what you mean, I just didn’t think it was a common thing. I’ve never really, well, gotten. . .That.” I spoke nervously, afraid he’d judge me for that. I wasn’t one to seek validation, but I understood how awkward it must have been to sexually interact with someone who hasn’t had much experience in that department. 

He let out a breath of air, his hand entangling itself into his hair as he shook his head. “That’s just depressing.” 

I hesitated before smiling at him. “I appreciate the offer, but we have to get going.” 

He seemed shocked by my words, by my disinterest in the action he offered to do to me, but he let it go, getting off the bed. “Man, I hate owing people.”

“Good think you owe me nothing,” I spoke. I’d wait to have the talk with him later. Right now, I wanted to enjoy his company, and I kind of felt like he enjoyed mine. No need to spoil the good moment. “Let’s stop by and say goodbye to Hancock.”

“Sure,” MacCready spoke, and we headed over to The Old State House. Before we could even reach the white door, a redheaded girl with a scarred face approached me. “Hey, Fahrenheit,” MacCready greeted. 

“Hey, Hancock wanted to speak to you privately MacCready, before you and Betty said your goodbyes.”

I tilted my head in confusion, my eyes turning into slits as I became suspicious. “Why?” I questioned.

Fahrenheit shrugged. “No clue. Just head up there, MacCready, and Betty, you can go up in five minutes.” 

Longest five minutes of my life, leaning against The Old Statehouse, tapping my foot rapidly against the ground uncomfortably. What the hell was Hancock saying to him?

As soon as the four minute mark hit, I began shifting uncomfortably, and I realized one of the Neighborhood Watch had spotted me squirming. “You’re. . . Weird, but I hear Hancock’s your friend so . . . Stop spazzin’ out, okay? You’re in public.”

I rolled my eyes. He assumed I cared what people thought of me.

I checked the time again. Finally, five minutes. I walked through the door and up the stairs now, and I stopped when I heard MacCready begin to speak.

“Yeah,” Macready spoke firmly. “She’s something.”

I felt my cheeks flush as I reached the top of the stairs. Was he talking about me?

My question was answered as I met eyes with a smirking Hancock. I pretended like I had no idea what I had just heard. “Hey Hancock, great meeting you. I’ll hit you up next time I’m in Goodneighbor.” 

“I’ll be counting the days,” Hancock charmed. 

—

“Got a thing for Hancock?” MacCready asked once we left Goodneighbor. I was currently adjusting my backpack straps. One of them seemed shorter than the other, and it was wildly uncomfortable.

“Jealous?” I teased with a wink.

He responded with the shake of his head and a roll of the eyes. The usual response to most of my teasing. “No. Shut up.” 

I opened my Pip Boy up, placing a marker on Sanctuary. “Stocked on water?” We’d stop at Graygarden, but they only had one water pump. It was one of the only settlements Nora owned that didn’t have a successful water supply because robots didn’t exactly need to drink water. 

“Water, and about a thousand old telephones,” he jabbed. He hated my scavenging, hated that I picked up old junk, but that old junk was useful. I could make more things with the scrap of the wasteland than he believed.

I snickered at his comment. “Those telephones have useful parts. I’d rather break down the junk I find into useful workshop building supplies than pay some shmuck 2000 caps for shipments.”

Although my argument was airtight, it bounced off of MacCready. “Looks like junk to me,” he muttered under his breath, but I still heard him. 

“Fine, go throw those away, and face Nora’s wrath.” 

MacCready smirked, taking a step closer to me, his eyes locked with mine. My breathing hitched, my heart skipped, and I sucked my lower lip in between my teeth, lightly applying pressure with my upper teeth. “What do I get for carrying all of your crap for you?” He questioned huskily.

I smiled sweetly, trying to seem more bitchy than smitten, a hard task when your complexion betrayed you. “You drop my junk, you avoid a kick to your junk.” 

He snorted as I began walking away, climbing over a large pile of solidified trash. He followed close behind. “I know for a fact that you happen to like my junk,” he flirted. 

My face turned beet red, and I was thankful he was behind me and couldn’t see my face.

“Shush,” I hissed. He snickered in response. “We should make it to Sanctuary by dinner time.” Nora was building a barn in Sanctuary she was hoping to make into a restaurant before we left. I was excited to eat dinner there tonight. 

I was also hoping to talk to her about the Brotherhood of Steel, to ask where to find them, and I was planning on building a few turrets and traps for Sanctuary’s defenses before I left to find them. I decided to put the Brotherhood venture on hold - I was going to stay in Sanctuary for a good two weeks, fixing the place up for Betty and getting to know everyone there. I mean, I’d have to eventually try. 

“We should have eaten before we left. I’m starving.” 

I pulled my backpack around and grabbed the wrapped-up chunk of ribeye steak, handing it to him. I grabbed a piece for myself as well, holding the Nuka Cola Quantum I stole from Diamond City in the other hand. We started eating, crouching and sneaking through Boston. I started heading towards Cambridge, but MacCready started to pull me in the direction of Weston. I frowned, but I said nothing, following him while taking another bite of my steak, and a quick sip of Nuka Cola, the soft hiss in the pit of my stomach after every sip slightly satisfying. Ah, it tasted better stolen.

He finished his steak before pulling my Nuka Cola from my hands. I turned to look at him with fury in my eyes, but I had bitten a bigger bite than I meant to and had trouble chewing it. MacCready stopped drinking the Nuka Cola, spurting it out of his mouth as he laughed at my face. I flipped him off with my hand, forcefully swallowing the bite. “Wasting my Nuka Cola being mean. Now you don’t get any at all,” I reached for it, but he pulled it away, lifting it up above my head. I reached for it, and suddenly realized the four lost inches in height made it slightly harder to grab things from him when he did that. “Jerk,” I scoffed. 

He laughed, taking a sip of the Nuka Cola before handing it back to me. “Thank you, Betty.”

“Your welcome, _Robert._ ”


	13. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hah, oh hey, look, more smut.

“So, how are we gonna act around each other when we get back home?” MacCready asked finally. We had just taken down a group of raiders – a small one, just three people. It wasn’t so hard, they practically walked into MacCready’s scope every time. I didn’t have to even lift my gun.

We were a few miles away from Sanctuary, and we both knew this talk was coming. Just neither of us wanted to bring it up. I frowned, missing the silence he broke. “I guess we can’t hook up in Sanctuary.” I spoke lowly.

MacCready didn’t respond immediately, just rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, no words leaving his mouth, but after a few minutes, he huffed loudly. “Well, that sucks.” 

I groaned internally. I was happy he agreed, but upset we would have to tip-toe around Sanctuary for the week. “Don’t remind me. I’ve been horny all day.” I spoke half-jokingly, but as soon as the words left my mouth, MacCready responded.

MacCready immediately stopped walking, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards a location with a bunch of green and dark brown trailers, all rusted to a good extent. I checked my Pip Boy and found out this place was called Fiddler’s Green Trailer Estates.

“Always wanted my own trailer. . .It’d be midnight blue with a leopard-skin interior. Hey. . . It beats living in a cave.” I smirked at his reference to Little Lamplight, and almost rolled my eyes at that ridiculously tacky color scheme, but I was interested in other things at the moment. 

We scoped out the joint to make sure there were no ferals laying around. I was checking the last trailer, which was equipped with a desk and a bed, when the door shut behind me, and I turned to see MacCready. He and I pounced on each other, practically tearing each other’s clothes off, our mouths tangled in a fiery kiss. Once we both stood naked, MacCready lifted me onto the desk. He pushed my legs open with his hands before yanking me by my ankles so I was further off the desk. I gasped as he then sunk down on his knees until his face was nearly touching my pussy. I let out a squeak in surprise as he began to swirl his tongue around my clit, sucking on it lightly as his fingers rubbed my wet opening. His slid his fingers inside of me, causing me to buck my hips forward and let out a moan. He worked my clit and fingered me, and I could tell he knew he was doing. 

“Robert,” I moaned, hands running through his soft hair. He moaned, grabbing my thighs, pulling me closer into his face, his tongue becoming more aggressive and skilled as he brought me to orgasm. I let out a yelp, writhing in his arms as he held me still, prolonging my orgasms by continuing his task, licking up the cum from my orgasm until I went limp. “Sensitive,” I spoke with a wince, and he placed a small kiss on my clit, causing me to jump up and moan. He wiped his face off with his sleeve, a strand of cum breaking as he pulled his sleeve from his face. He stood up, smirking at me. “How was tha-Ah!” 

I grabbed him with my legs by the waist, cutting him off as I pulled him closer to me, his hard cock sliding against my slick pussy. “Want more?” He questioned huskily, his eyes searching mine, waiting for me to submit. 

“Yes, RJ,” I breathed, He moaned.

He shuddered in delight at the sound of his name, then slid himself inside of me and began thrusting, a firm hold on my hips. I gripped onto his back and moaned at the sudden burst of pleasure that rippled through my body. I bit my lip and leaned my head back, arching my back in pleasure, his mouth finding an opportunity to nibble on my nipple before angling his hips, finding a new spot. I gasped, shuddering against him. “Oh, you like it when I do that, Betty?” He whispered in my ear. 

I nodded lamely as he thrusted himself inside as deep as he could go, brushing that spot again. He was holding my legs higher, his eyes never leaving mine. He pulled back out. “More,” I begged, and he took the opportunity to slide back inside of me, our thrusts matching in sync, hands sliding along his back, his strong shoulders, the veins in his arms and his sexy, rough hands. His hands exploring my waist, down my hips, up my ass, slapping it occasionally. I was coming undone, and fast, but at the sloppiness of his thrusts, so was he. He let out a jagged moan as he slid himself inside of me all the way before spilling inside of me, teeth locked onto my neck as he came, taken to the edge by my own powerful orgasm. He panted, his sweaty forehead pressed against my own damp one now, before pulling out. 

“Do you have a tissue or something?” I panted. MacCready searched into his bag before shrugging and picking up an old piece of paper on the floor. “Yeah, no thanks, that looks like a yeast infection waiting to happen.” I started to look through my bag as well, but alas, nothing to clean up with. “God dammit.” I groaned. 

“Here,” MacCready spoke, handing me a pair of boxers.

I didn’t respond, I just stared at his clean, unused pair of boxers before raising an eyebrow at him. I felt a blush cover my cheeks. “Better make sure no one does your laundry but you.” I used his clean pair to clean myself off, folding it so it wouldn’t get all over his bag when he placed it in there, handing it to him with beet red cheeks. That was. . . Embarrassing. 

He put it in his bag, a smirk playing on his mouth which he kept trying to wipe off. “Souvenir.” 

I reached over and lightly slapped his arm, causing him to snicker. “You’re disgusting.” Bastard.

\--

“They’re back!” Nora chimed as we swung open the junk gates of Sanctuary. She was in front of the weapons/armor workshop barn she had built where the first, crumpled house on the left used to be, speaking to a redheaded girl in a corset, and a bald guy I recognized from somewhere. . . . Where though?

“I’m surprised ol’ lead foot over here didn’t get us killed,” MacCready scoffed. I turned to him with narrowed eyes. He still sometimes rubbed me the wrong way, even if we were. . .Intimate, even if I had a teeeeeensy (or fat) crush on him.

I wasn’t going to let him win this one. “At least my aim isn’t shit,” I shot back.

“What are you talking about? My aim is better than yours!”

“Are you serious?” Nora groaned. “Are you two still fighting? God. Just get along in front of me, okay? Please? Even if you have to fake it.” She was rubbing her temples now. 

I sighed, deciding to play along, but I wasn’t going to be completely compliant. “Hanging out with MacCready is fun,” I spoke with a fake cheery voice, throwing two thumbs up and wearing a demonically large smile. 

She ignored the thick layer of sarcasm that dripped off my words like molasses. “There we go! That’s the spirit,” Nora laughed. “Smart ass,” she muttered under her breath. “Anyways, before I forget, I moved your bed to the last remaining house in the cul-de-sac at the end of Sanctuary. Thought you’d prefer to live by yourself. And, before I forget this, as well,” She turned to the two people she had been talking to previously. “Thought it was about time you met these two,” She smiled proudly. “This is Cait,” she spoke, motioning to the muscular, freckled, short-red-headed woman in a copper-colored corset. “And Deacon,” she spoke, pointing at the bald man with a pair of tinted black sunglasses who wore a white shirt and jeans.

I examined Deacon again, and realized I had totally seen him before. Several times, actually. “You were that guard in Diamond City,” I spoke, pointing an accusing finger at Deacon. “And one of the wanderers I saw in Goodneighbor sleeping on one of the mattresses in front of Hotel Rexford next to another drifter!” 

(Author’s note: Deacon is watching you the moment you leave Vault 111. Look it up if you don’t believe me. Blew my mind when I found out.)

The man laughed. “Hey, you got me! Sharp one, you are.” His voice was humored, speaking in a light, cheery, comedic tone.

“Stalkin’ her, ya perv?” Cait accused, tilting her head to the side. “That’s some weird shite.”

“I agree,” I spoke. “Why were you spying?” I questioned. He just stared back at me blankly. After a moment of thought, and his patient silence, I gasped as my eyes went wide, my hand over my mouth. What if he knew about MacCready and I? He could possibly tell anyone, or everyone, here. “Oh my god, what did you see?”

Deacon was smirking now, his eyes shifting from MacCready and I before he spoke. “Enough.” He spoke before he casually walked away, leaving me burning up and embarrassed beyond belief. I turned to MacCready, who was trying not to lose his shit in front of Cait and Nora, who curiously looked at me. 

Cait said nothing, and started to smoke a cigarette, and Nora just shrugged and walked away. She probably assumed MacCready and I hated each other too much to be physical with each other. I ran over to Deacon, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him behind Nora’s old house - the one no person lived in. Not even Nora. Her old furniture hadn’t even been scrapped for building, it was left untouched.

But the backyard was not off limits. Deacon was laughing as he threw his hands up. “Don’t worry, jeeze! I’m not telling Nora. Or anyone. Your kinky secret is safe with me.”

“Oh, great, our secret is stuck in your hands. You can’t even keep one face!” MacCready spoke hard, his tone heavily judgmental. Deacon was obviously a man of disguise who regularly changed facial features, the only reason I recognized him was because of those damn sunglasses and his head shape. Couldn’t fool me. 

“Hey, I’m serious guys,” Deacon said. His voice held no humor, his mouth relaxed, not frowning, not smiling, just plain-faced. 

“Thanks.” I spoke. “Really. It’s one big fucking secret.” I sighed in relief. That was a close one. 

“No problem. Oh, MacCready, don’t forget to do your laundry.” He walked away casually as MacCready’s jaw dropped, and my hands covered my face, pulling it down in frustration.

“Dammit, Deacon,” I hissed. I was going to die of embarrassment. I had to go lay down now. 

“Wow, well, we’re screwed,” MacCready spoke in an off-cheery tone. 

I didn’t dislike Deacon just yet, I knew he had the potential to be a pretty cool guy. Nora wouldn’t have him around otherwise. I think he was just a talented spy, who took his job a bit too seriously. He was also a bit weird, but to each his own. At least he wasn’t dishonest. Right?

MacCready walked up beside me now. “Wait five minutes, and then meet me at your place,” he whispered in my ear. I wanted to tell him to shove off, uncomfortable Deacon had saw us, but I couldn’t stop the excitement that rolled through me at his words. It was risky, but that house had no settlers, it was just empty, so it was the least likely spot where we’d get caught. The two houses in the cul-de-sac had collapsed and Nora had turned them into scrap, but she hadn’t built anything on the foundations yet, so it was definitely a place no one had any reason to walk by or in. He pulled away without even a single touch. I groaned in response before coolly waiting, occasionally tapping my foot impatiently as I kept glancing at the time on my Pip Boy. 

I was fantasizing about MacCready the entire time I waited until finally, five slow minutes had passed. I walked casually to the house, admiring the front of it first. It was a faded blue house that had clearly seen better days, but Nora seemed to make some repairs to ensure it wouldn’t collapse and kill me. The walls were reinforced in weaker areas, and it looked like the ceiling had been fixed, but the top of the roof was still ajar, lacking pieces. Still, it was a sight for sore eyes.

 

The minute I closed the front door, I immediately gasped at my living room, furnished similarly to Nora’s home in Greygarden, red couches, white carpets, and across the room on the other side, a beaten up fridge that seemed to be sturdy to store my aid in, and a cooking station, a clean, pre-war table and black-cushioned chairs to the left of the makeshift kitchen. There was even an aged island counter in the kitchen, assorted Nuka Cola’s littered the countertop. MacCready grinned as he pressed me against the white wall next to the shelving, kissing me before dragging me into the last room to the left – my bedroom. It had a blue bed with two clean pillows, and I was also pleased to see Nora had put black rugs along the floor of the room, clean, polished dressers along the wall underneath the boarded windows. She had equipped some holes in the wall, but high enough to give me privacy, so I didn’t have to worry about anyone peeping. The room also had a ceiling fan with a light above the bed to prevent it from getting too hot in here.

MacCready’s hands searched me as he pressed me against himself, but something in his pocket felt weird. I frowned and reached in, removing a mutfruit. “Why do you have this?” I asked, humored. 

He stared at it with his eyebrows knitted together, a frown on his mouth. His eyes then lit up. “Oh, I met one of Nora’s new friends, Curie, and she was saying something about how I need to watch my nutrition and eat more, and she gave two mutfruits to me, I put them in my pocket to get her to stop talking.” He rolled his eyes. He probably didn’t have the heart to tell Curie to beat it, and I noticed he was always polite to women. Well, most of the time. 

I cracked a grin. MacCready was really slim, and everyone seemed to notice. I didn’t mind it, though. He was still strong, and I wouldn’t doubt he’d be able to take someone out in hand-to-hand combat. 

I stared at the produce in my hand before snickering, I remembered that one night with Hancock in The Third Rail when he told me about a mutfruit trick he had used the day before with some dame he met. I hollowed out the mutfruit with my fingers, giggling to myself as MacCready watched me curiously. 

“What are you doing?” He asked me as if I was insane, just randomly destroying a fruit. He had no idea what I had in store.

“Take your pants off and find out,” I wiggled my eyebrows. He immediately did as he was told, his curiosity had obviously affected his arousal, as he was completely ready for my shenanigans.

I grabbed the mutfruit and slid his cock into the hole I had made into the mutfruit, and he let out a surprised moan. I slid him down my throat with the mutfruit down to the base of his cock, and he presses his hand onto the wall for support as he shuddered. 

This tasted amazing, and it was supposed to be tingly for MacCready, from what Hancock had told me. His hand gripped my hair as I began licking the delicious juices of the mutfruit each time I brought my lips and the mutfruit up and down his cock. 

He didn’t last long like this, he pulled my hair, pulling my mouth off of him quickly as he took in a shaky breath. He was trying not to cum. Wow, if I had any idea the mutfruit was that fun, I would have used it on him earlier. 

He pulled me so I was laying on the floor, pulling my pants off as he grabbed the other mutfruit out of his pocket. He ate a chunk of it before placing his lips to my sex. I gasped at the tingling sensation as he placed the bit side of the mutfruit on me, lathering me up with its juices. I bit my lip, moaning. “We’re gonna have to take rad-away after this.” The radiation was probably what made it so tingly, but hey, no one ever came close to dying by eating a mutfruit. 

He pressed his mouth against me again, his tongue sliding up and down my slit as it tingled. I moved my hips, an action he stopped by grabbing my right hip. His tongue started playing with my clit as his fingers slipped inside of me, curling up as he rubbed the upper wall of me, right in that special spot. He placed the mutfruit in my mouth to pacify me, holding both my hips down to stop my shaking as I came hard. I was seeing stars, and if I hadn’t bitten into the mutfruit, all of Sanctuary would have heard my scream. 

MacCready laughed smugly as he lay on top of me now, his mouth on my neck as he jerked himself off with the mutfruit a few times before sliding himself inside of me. We gasped. It was a completely new sensation, and he started thrusting like he was already close. After what we did, I didn’t blame him. I was nearing mine as well, and he angled his hips in just the right spot that had me arching my back, gasping, his grip into my hips surely leaving bruises as he held me together as I unwound underneath him. “Shit!” I yelled a little too loudly as I came undone, he groaned as he released inside of me, our breathing hard, our bodies sweaty. 

“Wow, I never knew you could do that with Mutfruit,” MacCready mused dreamily.


	14. Cait

MacCready and I decided to part ways in Sanctuary for a few hours after our time together. The less time we spent together, the smaller chance of anyone catching on. I just wasn’t sure who to hang out with. I didn’t particularly like anyone here. Well, I did, but not enough to keep a conversation with them like I could with MacCready. They didn’t really get me all too well.

Deacon, Nora, Mama Murphy and Preston were currently working in the mini-farm. “Hey, Betty,” Deacon called. I turned to look at him. 

“What?” I questioned. I stopped walking to wait for his response. Nora stretched her back before moving onto the next tato bundle. 

“You okay? Heard you scream ‘shit’ like, really, really loud earlier.” He had that knowing smirk on his face. 

“I tripped,” I spoke with a dry laugh. “Hurt my shin.” Oh, Deacon, I am so punching you later.

“Must have fallen on something hard, it sounded like it really got in there.” He kept his concerned face, and I couldn’t stop the wavering in my voice now. Holy shit, Deacon and his superb acting skills, and his superb powers of being a dick, incognito style. I had to hand it to him, I found humor in everything he said about MacCready and I, and that’s probably why he kept doing this, but I was also worried people would catch on. 

But no one had reacted yet. It seemed Deacon was so sly, he could read the room in seconds, like he could tell who was tuned in and eavesdropping and who wasn’t. Obviously, both Nora and Preston were so consumed in their tasks that they didn’t even register our interaction. He was that good at timing his words. Stealthy in a different way. 

“Well, I’m okay. I’ll watch where I’m going next time.” I spoke nervously.

“Good.” Deacon spoke, and he casually continued helping with the crops. Surprisingly, Nora didn’t suspect anything, and was instead talking to Preston about something. Probably about another settlement that needs her help. 

\--  
“Oh, there you are!” I heard a gleeful, thick French female voice sigh in delight, and I turned to see a short-haired, brunette woman wearing a plaid flannel shirt. She wore a large smile on her face. “Hello, madame, my name is Curie. I am making some routine checks on the settlers, and it is time for yours!”

I curiously turned to face her, raising my eyebrow. I wanted to refuse, but a small part of me wanted to know how bad the extend of my radiation damage was. “Okay. Nice to meet you, Curie. Let’s go,” I breathed as she led me to a small, wooden hut with a bed at the corner of the room, various medical supplies set on the counter as she turned to me now. She began with routine checks before she hesitated, her eyes meeting mine as she frowned. “A vault dweller should not have such a high amount of radiation damage. I’m afraid some of it is. . . Very close to irreparable, and you may not have the highest fertility rate. Chances of you ever reproducing is slight,” she chose her words carefully, and I could tell she was trying to be as nice as possible when presenting such delicate information. At my silence, she she smiled, a twinkling, hopeful look in her eye. “The chances are very small, but not nonexistent. Do not worry, madame, I will begin to perform research on fertility, and I will let you know when I have found some answers!”

I bit my lip. I wasn’t going to pour my hope into this. Besides, a person like me would be an unfit mother. I didn’t like kids anyways, didn’t much interact with them, so why was this so devastating for me? Did I really want her to even waste her time looking into this? It’s not like I was going to want kids anytime soon. 

I smiled at her. There was nothing else I could say, nothing could come out of my mouth without hinting I was sad, and I didn’t want to talk about this, at least not with her. I silently mouthed a ‘thank you,’ and walked out before she could say anything else, looking for a distraction. Something, anything. I walked to the restaurant and sat in a booth, hand clutching a cup in my hand as I stared down at the water, deep in thought. I’d let her perform her research, but I was ready to face the reality I’d never have children. I didn’t deserve that miracle. 

“Hey there,” Cait spoke in a thick Irish accent, cutting me out of my daze. I looked up at her, she had sat across from me in the red diner booth I was sitting in. I was in the restaurant Nora made in Sanctuary, eating some Ribeye Steak I had bought from the settler who worked the bar. I was eating later than usual, I had wanted to avoid the large crowd of people so I could have some time to myself, but Cait’s interruption didn’t bother me. I liked it. “Nora said you’d have some booze on ya from your travels. Got anythin’ old and strong you’re willing to spare?”

I grinned, taking a bottle of Whiskey out of my bag. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to join you.”

She snorted. “Well, ya didn’t think I’d be drinkin’ this stuff all on me own after takin’ it from ya? That’d be rude.”

She talked as if she respected me, and I was flattered by that. She looked like someone who took shit from no one, and she looked like my kind of people. The settler working the bar placed two aged, crusted shot glasses in front of us and I nodded in thanks, placing a few caps in her hand for the good service. I poured Cait a shot, and myself a shot as well. “Don’t worry about drinking all of this. I have three more in my bag.”

“My type a gal,” she joked. “Cheers.” We clinked glasses and drank it in one go. “How old er ya?”

“Twenty-one,” I spoke, pouring us more. “You?”

“Wow. Younger than I thought. No wonder Nora treats ya like a child. I’m twenty-six. Time really flies when yer gettin’ pissed.”

“Amen,” I spoke, ignoring the slightly insulting yet truthful comment she had made, pouring us another because we already drank our last glass. “How’d you meet Nora?” I asked curiously. I passed my plate over to her, and she took a few bites of my steak.

“She stumbled in the Combat Zone where I used ta work, killed all me customers. A bunch of dirty raiders. Glad I’m out of that shitehole. Glad I met Nora. She’s a good friend.”

“Seems to be the consensus around here,” I responded. I took another bite of my steak, washing it down with Whiskey. I passed her the plate and let her have the rest. She ate it thankfully, but didn’t say it out loud. It was alright, she didn’t have to.

I was surprised at how quickly I was making friends in this new world. I was finally meeting people I could get along with. All the uneasiness, my lack of trust, seemed to fade around these particular people, and it was heartwarming to feel as if I was tailor made for this world. 

\--

Three and a half bottles of Whiskey later, and we were smashed, laughing so hard I swear the settlers at Red Rocket could hear us loud and clear. All of Sanctuary surely could. 

Nora, MacCready and Piper curiously popped their heads in to watch us. They all looked slightly concerned, yet humored at our rowdy display, but I didn’t care. 

“Heeeeeeeeey!” I snorted. “Y’allllllllll pulling a Deacon and a-spying on me?”

“Easy on the booze there, boss, you’re gonna have a hell of a headache in the morning,” MacCready warned, I could see the slight worry forming in his eyes. 

“Lstisten up, prerty boy,” you’re not the boss of me!” 

Cait couldn’t stop laughing now, she sunk into the booth chair gasping for air as tears streamed down her face. “Man, I’m getting pissed with ye more often.” 

“MacCready,” Nora spoke, turning to look at him. “Can you take her for a walk to sober her up a little and then bring her to bed?” 

MacCready scoffed in response. “Wow, you really just confirmed I’m a babysitter with everything you said there.” He still sounded slightly worried, and his tone wasn’t as harsh as it usually was when asked to do something he didn’t want to do.

“For 200 caps?”

“Wow, that’s crazy high. Yeah, fine. I’d walk a hundred miles if I knew there was a pile of caps waiting for me at the end.” He had no complaints, he just walked towards me now. I held up my hand, pointer finger extended at him.

“No!” I yelled. “No. I’nm am adult.” My head was so damn fuzzy, though. I couldn’t think straight.

“Jesus, Betty,” Piper laughed, her open-fingered hand covering her mouth in pure glee. “I wish I had a camera.” 

“Come on, Betty,” MacCready sighed, he walked over to me, his hand extended, waiting for mine. I tried to put my hand on his, but somehow miscalculated, and instead completely missed his hand by a foot, and put my weight into the lean, falling into the ground in front of him, my head smacking into his thighs as they held me upright. “Dammit, Betty.” 

“Betty’s my new favorite person,” Cait mused as she got up from her seat. “I don’t need any help gettin’ to me bed, but you keep an eye on her, ey MacCready?” She winked at him.

“Anything for you Cait,” He flirted. I headbutted his thigh. “Ow! What the hell?” He grabbed me by the waist and yanked me upright. I stood up straight before wobbling, and he caught me by the waist before wrapping my arm around his neck and leaning me against him. “Okay, guess I’m walking her around Sanctuary like a good little doggy.”

Dogmeat rushed in at the speed of light.

“No boy, no walkies right now,” I spoke sadly. Dogmeat whined at this, but Nora gave him a little scratch behind the ear to make him feel better. 

MacCready brought me to the junk gates of Sanctuary and swung them open. He was going to walk me around the perimeter of the wall enclosing Sanctuary, I guess.

My assumption was wrong. We walked to the hump across the bridge, and he sat me down gently. I leaned my head against his shoulder for balance. “Betty, you’re acting really childish,” He spoke after I was upright.

His accusation sobered me up enough to argue. I hated the way that sounded coming out of his mouth. “Well, MacCready, it’s because the last thing I remember from 2077 was being treated like a child. I was barely old enough to buy myself alcohol. I’m from a different time, where I never had to be as mature as fast as you all did.”

He snorted. “I became a father at eighteen. If I can do that, you can stop getting so drunk you can’t control yourself.”

(Author’s note: Not sure when he became a dad, this isn’t canon) 

I sighed. God, that’s right. He was a father. I cracked a grin. “You’re a daddy, that’s right.”

He flinched in surprise at my words before he spoke. “God, please don’t say that again.” This response humored me greatly, and I’d tease him more on it if I wasn’t feeling so lachrymose.

I laughed gently before I stopped, my eyes inspecting his. Speaking of kids. “I uh. . . Found out my chances of ever having a kid are super, super low, so. . . . Guess that all, y’know. . . Got to me,” I admitted before I let out a soft, sad laugh. “Never wanted them before, don’t don’t want them now, but I always thought maybe somewhere down the line—“ I shook my head as my throat closed. 

“Hey,” he said gently, I looked up to meet his gaze now. He could tell I didn’t want to talk about it, once again, but he seemed reluctant to change the subject, to let it go. He hesitated, I could tell he wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m not going to lie, having kids in this world is hard. I can’t even see my own kid every day, have to keep making caps just to make things work out. Besides, there’s still some hope. Chances aren’t zero, right?” Wow, even MacCready was trying to be optimistic. The natural pessimist trying to make me feel better. 

I appreciated his effort to make me feel better, knowing that was seldom given from him, and I smiled at him, a sad, small, smile. “Thanks,” I said, a word I hadn’t said often enough to the people who deserved it the most. “You’re right,” I said gently. No use in freaking out about it just yet, and even if I couldn’t have kids, this was a different world. One where that normal, apple-pie life was just a distant, distant memory. “For now, I want to enjoy the stars.” I lay down on my back now. I remembered a time where the stars weren’t visible on account of light pollution. Now, they were crystal clear, and oh so beautiful.

He let out a breath, scoffing as he looked at the stars, then back to me. “You’re really wasted.”

“Well, you act like you’re forty, so you should really act your age, and since I’m the closest to your age here, that means you have to act like me, so drink up,” I handed him a beer. He rolled his eyes at this, but popped it open and took a sip. “Ah, I see it’s easier to persuade you now.”

“Well, you have become a lot more persuasive lately,”

I felt a blush cover my cheeks. “So have you.”

We were quiet for a few minutes. He took another sip of his beer. “Do you know Cait?”

“Yeah,” MacCready spoke. “Met her a few times at the Combat Zone. Hell of a fighter.”

I nodded, pursing my lips. “She’s my friend.”

“Clearly.”

I pursed my lips. “You uh, have a thing going on with her, too?”

“What?” MacCready asked, he turned to look at me now. I sighed and stopped leaning up against him. “I think you mistake me for someone who has time to be having trysts willy nilly. “You’re the only person I’ve done anything with in a while.” he paused. “I don’t know what it is about you, I just can’t help myself.”

“Yeah,” I spoke, I ran my fingers through my hair, my heart beating fast at his words, I felt lightheaded. Something about me he took a liking to. “I know what you mean.” I definitely fancied him a hell of a lot more than I should have.

“Ready to go to bed?” he asked.

I hesitated. “I guess so. But you didn’t take me on that walk.”

He nodded knowingly. “I had a feeling that walk would end with you on the ground in your own puke from overexerting yourself. So, no. That’s the last thing you need.”

He picked me up bridal style and started to carry me to my house, placing me in my bed. I groaned, but he pulled the covers over me and lay me on my side. He sat next to my bed and let out a loud breath of air, taking a sip of water. I raised my eyebrow at him. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“You don’t expect me to leave you alone to sleep after you drank that much alcohol, did you?” He whispered harshly. He handed me a purified water. “I expect you to drink some of that before going to bed.”

I couldn’t fight the small smile that crept on my lips. I wordlessly drank the entire bottle, realizing how dehydrated I was, before I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.

A few hours later, I heard the soft speaking of people, murmurs that caused me to wake up, but I didn’t shift, I kept my eyes closed to listen in.

“Just take the caps, I told you I was going to pay you for this,” Nora whispered.

“No,” MacCready replied quietly. “I didn’t do it for the caps.”

They were quiet for a few moments, I felt my heart beating so loud I swore I could hear it, and after a few seconds, I thought they did, too. They didn’t talk for about a minute, so I assumed Nora had silently walked out of the room, but she continued to speak to the man who was leaning against the end of the frame of my bed. “Why’d you do it?” she asked in a whisper now.

“Can’t let Cait kill my client,” MacCready replied. Nora didn’t press any further, instead, she walked out, and I fell back asleep, flattered at MacCready’s generosity, something seldom seen.


	15. Survivor

. . .

. . 

.

January 4th, 2077

 

The sun shone through the window of the attic of the old, beaten house as the sounds of shots fired echoed through the sky outside, a grim mood pouring over me as I held my hand up, ceasing the movement of my squad.

They silently obeyed before I walked into the room, closing the door behind me, to their discomfort. I examined the room now before my eyes set on a desk, the doorknob jiggled behind me as Nichols signaled he wasn’t going to wait long before bursting down the door. 

Finally, a blur of faded blue came to my attention as a messy-haired woman shifted behind the desk, a whimper escaping her lips upon realizing I had caught her. I quickly placed a chair into the door. 

I ran to the woman who cowered at my presence, but I bent down and held my hand out, my eyes meeting her scared ones, and she relaxed once she realized I wasn’t going to hurt her. “I’m going to get you out of here,” I whispered. I had the perfect opportunity to save this woman, but the anxiety of disobeying a direct order pooled into my head, causing me to feel as if I was in a whole different world than this one.

“T-thank you,” she whimpered, her hand clasping on my arm as I grabbed a piece of paper, hurriedly jotting my address and room number on it, fishing my spare key out of my pocket, handing it to her. She took it with wide, weary eyes. I recognized her from the description in our file. Maggie Wu, widowed wife, 34. A normal human being to me, a potential spy to the government. “What is this?” She asked with a wavering voice, her eyes never left mine as if she was expecting my mood to change and for me to hurt her.

“Go to my apartment,” I whispered as the doorknob began to rattle, I threw a chair against the door to keep it from opening. “Grab anything you need. Anything. Nap if you need to, and run far, far away,” I spoke, I handed her a stimpak –my only one— and a water. “But you’re going to have to listen to me if you want to make it out of here.”

I was going to die for this, if I was caught, but I was going to ignore that tid-bit of information as I consoled the sobbing woman. “What do I do?” she asked. 

“We have to make this look real, or we’ll both die now,” I spoke firmly. “I’m gonna need you to start screaming. I’m going to say you shot me, and escaped,” I handed her a pistol. How could I trust some random woman, you ask? A woman who the government suspected to be a threat? Well, because like 98% of the citizens removed by the US Government, she was innocent. It was a gut feeling, the way she looked at me as if I held her fragile life in my soiled hands made me feel like a monster. “Shoot me right here,” I spoke, pointing to a section of my forearm. “If you shoot me in the chest and kill me, you’re not going to be able to make it out of here alive.”

She took the gun in her shaking hands, aiming it as well as she could while in her state of shock, I could see the sweat forming on her finger tips causing her grip to slightly loosen. She was scared, and I was asking for a lot from her, things I wish I didn’t have to ask. She pointed it at me, her hands shaking, tears staining her face, reddened eyes looking at me with guilt as she aimed for my arm.

I didn’t want her to apologize. I didn’t want her to feel guilty for shooting the person who saved her. I deserved this as much as those men outside the door did, and something positive was coming out of this.

“She’s getting away, secure the front of the house!” I shouted as I heard loud, hurried footsteps walk away outside of the door, the sound of five soldiers storming the staircase as they positioned themselves in front of the house. The gun fired, recoil causing the gun to fly out of her hand as she gasped in shock. I hissed as the shock subsided, the feeling of my sleeve as it slowly became moist with blood, the pain that caused me to grit my teeth. I’d been shot before, plenty of times, but it wasn’t a feeling you could just simply become accustomed to. Hurt just the same each and every time. The spot she shot was exactly where I’d hope she’d shoot, less damage, less chance of me bleeding out. Not a fatal wound by all means, but not a pleasant one, either. 

“Quicker, you fucks!” I yelled out of the window at my squad as I pointed to the other window, the one that led to the backyard. “Keep running, and don’t look back,” I told her in a harsh whisper, she gave me a quick nod before leaping out of the open window, onto the roof, jumping off of the house and landing on her feet before falling over, scrambling to her feet and running. I kicked the chair out of the way of the door, which swung open moments later as I held my bleeding arm, leaning against the wall, gasping in pain. 

“Fuck, did you get her?” I asked while gripping my arm in pain as I writhed, beads of sweat forming on my skin as I tried to cope with the pain and the realization that I had just committed treason.

Nichols was there first, running into the room, bending down next to me as he examined my arm. “Why the fuck would you come in here alone, Jett? Are you stupid or something? What happened?” He barked as Diaz and Thompson followed suit, Diaz administered a stimpak as Thompson began removing the bullet.

I let out a hiss as Thompson’s tweezers dug a little too far past the bullet. “Watch it, Thompson. Fuck. That fucking bitch came out of nowhere. I took one for the team, Nichols. I’m the one with the bullet wound! How the fuck did she outrun all of you? You’re all useless!” I barked, groaning as Thompson pulled the bullet out, inspecting the bullet. “Snuck up on me, grabbed my gun right out of the holster and fired before running out that fucking window,” I pointed at the window towards the front of the house. “Then

“Damn, probably used a stealth suit,” Diaz spoke with a shake of his head before he handed Thomspon the med kit, he began to patch me up now. “Well, glad you’re okay,” he squeezed my shoulder comfortingly, an action that made me wildly uncomfortable. This was the same man I saw knock out five front teeth out of a man’s mouth for speaking to his wife during a previous relocation. He would empty his gun into my skull if he knew what I had just done.

Nichols kept quiet, his eyes glued to my face, suspicion in his eyes, mouth pursed tight. He crossed his arms over his chest as I stared back. I could tell by the way he looked at me that he was not convinced of my story, but he didn’t have enough evidence to call me out. I was the one sitting here covered in my own blood, after all.

When I came home to my apartment later that night, I found that Mrs. Wu had taken 5 waters, 4 sugar bombs, 2 cram, 3 Nuka Colas, and 3 stimpaks. She had barely skimmed the surface of my supplies, and when I walked into my room, I found my bed was made, a note sitting on top of my bed. I picked the note up as my spare key fell out of it and landed on my bed. 

“Thank you.”

I held the note close before tucking it in the front pocket of my military fatigues before I grabbed a bottle of Bourbon from my dresser, cracking it open and taking a harsh swig. I had saved a woman’s life, while risking my own today. I had gone against all of my orders, had not only broken them but allowed her to take supplies rationed from the military. I was double fucked if I got caught, and Nichols was hot on my tail.

This meant I couldn’t save anyone else for a good while, but I hoped once his suspicion had faded, I’d have another opportunity to save a life or two again. 

Still, this one good deed did not wash away all of my sins, as I let the Bourbon wash away my uneasy conscious before passing out in my bed, my hand resting over my pocket as I fell asleep.


	16. Part of the Team

I woke up to the sound of rustling. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, wincing at the slight headache from my hangover. Good thing it wasn’t so bad. I was glad MacCready convinced me to drink that bottle of water before bed. As the rustling became louder, I rubbed my eyes with a stifled groan. Yeah, it was official, I was never drinking again. 

The way MacCready had handled me was endearing, but I surely didn’t want him to think I was some drunkard. In my past life, I acquired a drinking habit from all of the awful things they made me do that I wanted to numb myself of, but I had no excuse anymore. This addiction was going to get me killed.

Normally, I wouldn’t give a damn about my reputation, but I cared about how my drinking had concerned MacCready, and I also didn’t want any of my bad habits to get the best of me. He was right. It was time to handle my stress better, to become more productive, to not let such an awful addiction get the best of me. 

“Good, you’re up,” a voice spoke as I groaned, pulling my pillow harder against my face. He threw an addictol my way. I definitely needed it. I used it as the stinging feeling enveloped my body, hissing. I’d felt this feeling more than once before, as my drinking always came back to bite me, but this was the last time. This was it. This was the last addictol I’d ever have to take, I’d make damn sure.

“Astute observation,” I spoke sarcastically with an eye roll.

“And you have a hangover.” He spoke knowingly. I sat up now, my hair knotted and sticking up in different directions as my groggy eyes fixated on his form. He grinned at me now, his eyes taking in the disheveled appearance I was unashamed to show him. He reached out towards his open bag, picking it up by one of the bottom corners, pulling it up, a pot and pot lid falling out along with a flask and a few emptied pipe pistols. I scowled at the sound, covering my ears at the sound. Had I not been hungover, it wouldn’t have bothered me, but the sound of clashing metal was enough to cause a few throbs from my temple. 

“Fuck you,” I hissed, my words practically bounced off of him like oil and water. 

“Nora wanted us to stick around today. You’re probably in no shape to be traveling with that massive hangover. This’ll give you a day to get your things together for the long travel. Purified water, stimpaks, rad chems. . . Extra clothes. . . “ The corner of his mouth twitched. “Tissues.”

I rolled my eyes and got out of my bed, punching him in the arm. “I’ll be ready by 6AM. It’ll be good to leave early.”

\--  
I decided to go to the restaurant for lunch. When I arrived, Nora was sitting in a booth with Deacon and Piper. Nora patted the seat next to her, and I sat beside her. She gave me a plate of mirelurk omelette and a cup of coffee. “Thanks,” I spoke.

“You okay, party girl?” Deacon teased. 

“I’m fine,” I spoke, taking a sip. “Just blowing off some steam.”

“I saw MacCready stayed at your place to make sure you were okay. I’m hoping you guys are getting along better.” She didn’t know I overheard some of her conversation with MacCready from last night, and I hoped it’d stay that way. 

Deacon smirked, and I gave him a stone-faced glare until he turned his head to look away and tried to bite back the smirk. 

“You okay there, Deacon?” Nora asked.

“I’m just fine, just fine.” He coughed onto his closed fist. I continued eating my meal.

“So, meet the Brotherhood yet?” Piper asked me.

“No, I was actually going to ask Nora about them before MacCready and I headed off for our next adventure,” I spoke, turning to look at Nora. To be honest, I had been genuinely having the time of my life to focus on anything just yet. 

“Go meet Paladin Danse at Cambridge at the Cambridge Police Station,” Nora spoke.

Wait a second, Cambridge? I thought back to when MacCready and I were heading back to Sanctuary and he pulled me through Weston instead of through Cambridge. He must have purposely done that to avoid that interaction with Paladin Danse.

“The Brotherhood? Keep looking, friend,” Deacon spoke to me. “There are more options than you think.”

I frowned. I was confused now. “What?”

Deacon snickered. “You know what, forget I said anything. If you don’t know who we are yet, I’ll let you find out. Come back to me when you can tell me what you’ve heard, and if you’re interested.”

I nodded. “Noted.” I finished my omelette and drank the rest of my coffee. I felt much better now. I took out a purified water and started to drink it.

“So you and MacCready heading out again? Sounds like you guys like getting down and dirty-” I choked on my water, coughing to try to play it off. “-you know, fighting your way through places. It’s like I can’t go anywhere without hearing about the soldier and the merc.”

“I’m not trying to be famous,” I scoffed. “Just trying to get by. Besides, I haven’t even done anything yet.”

“Apparently, when you and MacCready traveled through Boston, you took down a ton of hostile places and made it easier for people to travel through to Diamond City and Goodneighbor. You’ve done Boston a favor without realizing it. Technically, you’ve already helped The Brotherhood’s cause.”

“Huh,” I spoke in surprise. The Brotherhood’s cause: Making The Commonwealth a safer place. A place without Super Mutants gearing to rip your arm clean off and use it as a toothpick. “Wow, I guess I can put my skill of killing things to good use, after all.” It felt strangely good to know I made a positive difference. I had given up hope in humanity after what happened, after I tried to get myself killed to avoid dishonor for refusing to take Chinese soldiers down, but. . . the feeling that I was making a difference was so. . . Intoxicating.

“I’m going to build turrets for Sanctuary today,” I spoke and smiled. “Because Nora, I’m officially joining The Minutemen.” Her cause was my best bet.

She grinned at me. “You were always part of the Minutemen, silly. But yeah, I’m glad you finally came around.” She hugged me, and it felt good to receive from her. It felt comforting. I wasn’t familiar with that feeling from an interaction with someone who could be considered an adult. They were always the last people I trusted. “Thanks for helping.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” I spoke with a lazy wave of my hand. I wasn’t looking for direct praise. It felt weird. I slunk out of the barn and started to build laser turrets. I knew how to build any type of turret because of my time in the Military, and my job required we kept areas as secure as possible. I was also going to build some heavy machinegun turrets around the homes of settlers to make sure nothing sneaked up on them during the night. Nora already had a few Minutemen stationed for defenses, but I loved beefing up defenses. 

I heard a whistle of surprise behind me, but I didn’t look up, I kept working on the third laser turret of the day. I had been working on them for thirty minutes, not bad for someone taking their sweet time, but this was one of my specialties. “You’re really good at that. I’m glad you’re on our side,” Preston spoke. “Nora told me you joined. Thank you. I was wondering if you could help a settlement whenever you had time.”

I pursed my lips, considering what it’d mean to help the Minutemen. I put the finished turret to the side and began building the machine gun turrets. “I may roll by, but I can’t make any promises.” I didn’t want to give a word I wasn’t planning to keep. I was still getting used to this whole Minuteman agenda. 

“I understand. Well, I’ll mark the location on your map anyways.” He programmed a location in my Pip Boy. Abernathy Farm.

“Yeah, why the hell not?” I spoke, I dropped the wrench when I accidentally pinched my finger. ”Fuck!” I shouted.

“Wow, spoken like a true soldier,” Preston chuckled. “Thanks, Betty. It means a lot that you’re willing to make a difference.” He walked away as I rubbed my sore finger, cursing to myself.

“Betty?” I was about to start punching at whoever was distracting me for the thousandth time, but I sucked in a breath as I adverted an irritated glance towards the mention of my name. 

“Yes?” I asked as politely as possible, wiping my hand along my damp forehead, leaning up against the wall. I was exhausted, crabby, and ready for bed. 

The person made themselves visible now – Mama Murphy. I relaxed now, realizing I should probably be nicer to Mama, she wasn’t trying to bother me, she seemed like she wanted to speak. “Is everything okay?” I asked now as she situated herself in front of me, the blue coat she wore seemed to age her, her clear eyes coming to focus. She was clean. 

As if reading my mind, she spoke up. “Mama Murphy’s as good as her word, kid. No more chems.” I didn’t respond, I just nodded and continued working on the turret, trying to attach a gear, but it wouldn’t fit. After close examination, I realized the gear was cracked, bent into a more oval shape. I cursed and started to search for another one. I wasn’t going to spend ten minutes bending the shape of this gear and soldering it together. I didn’t have the patience. Not now, at least. “I wanted to tell you about the sight,” she spoke now, breaking me out of my thoughts. I screwed the gear into place before dropping my tools and turning to her. “What I saw before, when I had the sight.”

“Why didn’t you tell me what you saw when you saw it?” I asked now with a frown. "Why wait until now?”

She smiled. “Because you weren’t ready for it, yet, kid. Now, you are. You’ve changed. . . “ She spoke with a reassuring nod. Her face became serious now. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you about the sight until after the mercenary softened your heart.”

My brows furrowed, I felt a twinge of irritation along with curiosity. If this was before, when I had first met her, I’d have told her to go to hell. But instead, she had waited until the perfect time to talk to me, which was now, after travelling with MacCready. Was it really MacCready who made me so soft? Also, what? 

“What?” I asked now, my voice assertive yet hushed, as it was the only thing I could blurt out in between my quick, hurried head turns. I wanted to make sure no one had heard what she had just said, the familiar feeling of a blush began creeping up. 

She smiled now, but she didn’t speak until I met her gaze. I almost fell backwards when I saw the look in her eyes. The look of grief, mixed with a sharp awareness that told me she knew. She knew all about me. This whole time, I had assumed the sight was some junkie excuse to keep slamming down Jet, but no, it was real. There was no other way she’d know about me, about who I was. 

“It wasn’t your fault, kid,” she spoke gently. “You can’t keep blaming yourself. You didn’t have a choice.”

I felt as if I had just been punched in the gut by a Super Mutant. I placed my hand on the cool concrete ground below me, fingers gripping against the ground as if it’d somehow keep me stable. I lurched forward, my other hand covering my face as my body convulsed, a sob wracking through me so hard I was afraid everyone would hear me, but the feelings that overwhelmed me drowned out that self-conscious thought. I was shaking, the tears rolling down my face, the dryness of my throat, the pasty feeling in my mouth. Oh, God, I couldn’t stop these tears. Even as she hugged me in a tight embrace. All I could do was collapse into the embrace, something I’d have never done in the past, because I never had an adult hold me like this, comfort me like this, tell me I wasn’t to blame like this.

I blamed myself all the time, every waking moment. Even in Vault 111 as the doctors tortured me to no end, a small part of me had always believed I had deserved it. Truly. For the families I’d watched, taken away from the US Government, my employers, without lifting a finger to stop them. I never participated, but I didn’t help families as much as I wanted to, either. I had attempted to save a few families, but it was only if there was a large chance of success, in which case, one or two families were able to slip out from my team, but that wasn’t enough. That wasn’t good enough, and didn’t right any of my wrongs. It still made me a coward.

I endured the punishment of Vault 111, my purgatory, until becoming reborn here, in The Commonwealth, like a Phoenix from the ashes, I rose with new purpose, new life, new goals and ambitions.

If I had a prophecy, I had to hear it. I had to fulfill it. This was my second chance. 

“You lived for a reason, kid,” she comforted before she let go, I had calmed down already, I was still shaking, my hands rubbing my eyes furiously as if it’d take away the red puffiness, a delusional logic, as it only made it worse. “Forgive yourself. You have to tell him about your past life. Everything. Only then, will you truly be set free. You can’t love yourself until you can forgive yourself, by confiding your past atrocities in the hands of a damaged soul. Once you forgive yourself for your past, you can reach your destiny.” 

Set free. I pursed my lips together and shook my head now, letting out a soft laugh. “Mama Murphy, you have no idea, the things I’ve done. No one would love me after that little story,” I laughed darkly. I finished the turret before placing it on the wooden platform I had built beside the rusted mailbox with the name ROSA painted on it. "Besides, I don't need forgiveness from him to validate myself." 

“Kid, I-“ Mama Murphy started, but I turned to her with a smile, holding back the bitter attitude, this woman didn’t deserve to be berated for telling me my future.

“Thank you.” I spoke shortly, pulling myself together, hand on my hip. Truth be told, I was shocked. I was not so pleased with her dramatic wording, but I was going to just let it be, and listen to her words. I didn’t want to talk about it, no, I wanted to deal with it on my own, until the time I decided to listen to her advice, and talk to MacCready, but I wasn’t sure he’d still want to pal around with me after hearing about what I’d done in the past. 

It all sounded good on paper, but when she said it out loud, it sounded corny, stupid, and . . . Unreal. Or, maybe perhaps that was just my denial. I had just been crying in her arms for solace just minutes prior to now, when she hit that sensitive nerve. Perhaps the truth was so hard to swallow, that for once in my life, I couldn’t do this on my own. I had to depend on someone to help me, and I hated it.

Being alone is what protected me, and I wanted nothing more than to bury the past, but it looked like the past was not even close to through with me, not yet.


	17. Mine

I woke up to find myself completely alone, but the bed next to me was warm. I began looking around for MacCready with a frown, but my search ended as quick as it started as the door opened. I assumed it was him. 

I didn’t turn to check. I just groaned at the sound of the creaking door. “Good, you’re up,” A voice spoke. I looked up to meet the blue eyes of MacCready. “Since we’re not leaving Sanctuary for another two weeks, Nora’s assigned me to farming, and you to scavenging.” 

I was okay with that task. I already did that, anyways. “Alright,” I picked myself up from my bed and started to brush my hair, but MacCready remained in the doorway. “Need something else?” I asked, but with the sting from my sharp attitude, he left. 

Had to keep the tough act up. I wasn’t supposed to let myself be so stupid as to fall in love. Especially not with someone like him. 

I pulled my hair into a ponytail and walked out of my room and started breaking down pipe pistols we didn’t need for settlement building items. 

“Hey, there handsome,” I heard the voice of a settler speak. 

“Well, hey there, beautiful,” MacCready’s smooth voice responded, he sounded a bit surprised. I stopped what I was doing as I turned to see who he was saying that to. I had to get a look at her.

She was beautiful, it was true, green eyes that made mine look dim and colorless, long dirty brown hair strewn all over her shoulders, some strands clung to his forehead. She wore farmhand clothes, but it didn’t stop her from sticking out, even with dirt on her left cheek. “You should come around more often,” she grinned. 

He looked surprised again but his words didn’t falter, he just smirked. “Maybe I will.” 

Before I could think about what I was doing and stopped myself, I had walked into view, walking over to him, but by the time he was finally looking at me, I had no words. “I-I uh, can you help me move the junk I gathered into the workshop?”

He raised a questioning eyebrow, studying my expression, and I prayed he didn’t see how jealous I was. The settler he was speaking to looked upset at my interjection, arms crossed as her eyes read “Go away.” 

“Okay,” he agreed after a brief pause. I led him to my house where I had a pile of just desk fans. He groaned. “Come on, what could you possibly scrap out of these?” His irritated voice rang.

I grinned. “Lots of things. Come on, help me pick them up.” I started gathering them in my arms.

“Next time you get jealous,” he started, my ears began to burn as I dropped a few of the desk fans I had picked up, scrambling to keep the three still in my arms. “Don’t make such a stupid excuse to get me over here.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied hotly. He had an amused, playful look in his eyes. There was no lying my way out of this one, he had caught me. 

“Really?” He asked with a raised eyebrow and a grin. I rolled my eyes and walked up to him, pushing him up against the wall, pinning him with my body. I placed a kiss on his lips, savoring the rough feel of his slightly chapped mouth. He wouldn’t wipe that stupid smirk off of his face.

“Shut up,” I hissed. The blush still hadn’t faded, and my skin felt hot. 

His hand cupped my cheek, his mouth capturing mine in another hot kiss. “I’m all yours.” I blushed at his words, and by the cocky expression on his face, I could tell he loved my reaction to that. 

“Fuck you,” I hissed in a soft squeak as I pulled myself off of him, his hands falling back to his sides as I shrank away. Damn I wished these desk fans were functional, I was burning up. He responded with a snicker. 

He picked up as many desk fans as he could carry now. “Okay, beautiful,” I hid my face now. God, I was sweating now. “Let’s go put these desk fans in the workshop. It’s super important,” he teased. 

“Hey, where do you think the scraps to upgrade and repair your gun comes from?” I asked, pushing him gently on the hip before I grabbed as many desk fans as I could carry. He walked with me to the red workshop and dumped it in there, he didn’t flinch as a few of them bounced off and landed on the ground. “Careful!” I snapped as I carefully placed the fans in the workshop.

I could hear him laughing behind me as I organized the fans to fit. I was going to scrap them, but I had other things to scrap first. “I’m gonna go tend to the mutfruit. I’ll try to keep my striking good looks to a minimum, but, ahh, that’s gonna be hard.” 

I bit back my laugh. I wanted to be mad, but it was impossible at this point. “You cocky son of a bitch.” 

“Hey, watch your mouth,” he joked.

“Make me,” I responded, leaning against the workshop now as I faced him, his eyes watched my mouth as I bit my lip. He copied my action, caught in my spell. “God, I want to steal you away for just thirty minutes,” I whined. “Get out of here, you’re clouding up my mind.” I jokingly gave him a swat on the arm. He just laughed and walked away, towards the mini-farm. I sat on the chair near the workshop, disassembling a hot plate.

\--

This was it. I was finally going to meet The Brotherhood of Steel. 

I had spent the entire day scrapping salvage for Nora, up until dinner. I ate with Preston and Nora, but I kept quiet, listening to them discuss Minutemen matters. I was heavily intrigued, and heavily impressed at the way they spoke. They truly did care about this new world, and I wanted to help them, after I met The Brotherhood of Steel, and followed up on that Railroad rumor I’d heard.

MacCready and I left after dinner. He was totally not a night person, and neither was I. I tried to ignore his comment about walking into an ambush without even knowing it, pushing myself to make this travel. My eyes had a harder time adjusting in the dark, but perhaps we had a bigger advantage traveling at night when enemies had a harder time spotting us. I was going to have to trust RJ’s sharp eyes. 

Unfortunately, I was more of a run-through-quickly-and-pray-while-holding-your-gun-close type of people. Something MacCready, stealthy sniper, absolutely refused to understand. He told me he’d teach me how to sneak better, but I’d have to stop ‘walking like a Behemoth,’ as he so lovingly put it. 

I was currently stuffing supplies into my bag, which sat on my kitchen counter as I forced a purified water in the tight, remaining space in the resources pack, where I kept all of our food and water.

“Hey, beautiful,” MacCready called, turning to look at me as I looked up from my train of thought. I blushed at his words, I was still not used to his compliments. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

\--

On the way to the Cambridge Police Station, we were swarmed by feral ghouls, nipping and gnawing, hissing and gurgling. “Let’s get it on!” MacCready roared as he started sniping the ones who were getting dangerously close to me. I took out my Overseer’s guardian and shot one point-blank, his legs flying off as he dragged himself toward me. 

“That’s unsettling,” I sighed before shooting it in the head. We continued following the light of the Cambridge Police Station, the only building in the area with lights. This was probably the reason ferals swarmed like flies around this particular area. 

A man in power armor stopped me. I inspected his power armor and smiled. “T-60. I used those back in the day,” I spoke. The T-60’s were only in development in Boston, as other places were still using the T-51, which had been the most current in Military advancement. Our T-60’s were only given to the MP’s and standard patrol soldiers, but never actually saw battle. It was also new technology that the rest of the world didn’t particularly know about until, well, after the bombs dropped, and it looked like The Brotherhood of Steel had found our records on them, because that was the only way Danse’d be wearing that particular armor. They weren’t particularly commonly known anywhere else. I wondered what other Military secrets they were aware of.

(Author’s note: I’m using this explanation to fix the retcon made in Fallout 4 so instead of disregarding past lore, I’m gonna roll with both sides of the explanation on this. Watch Oxhorn’s Youtube video on Retcons concerning Fallout lore if you’re interested in this subject)

The man turned to me, taking his helmet off. He had a soft layer of facial hair around his jaw and around his mouth in a goatee. He had a defined jaw, and a really manly appearance to him. His hair was covered by his cap. 

“This is a classified area, civilian.” 

“Well, I’m looking for Paladin Danse.” I folded my arms over my chest.

“Who sent you?” The man asked. I examined him now. The way he acted revealed to me that he was the one I was looking for. 

“Nora,” I replied. “I don’t know if you’ve talked to her recently, but I’m Betty.” 

His eyes widened now. “Oh, you’re the pre-war soldier.” He suddenly gave a salute. “First and foremost, thank you for your service, and sorry I was standoffish. Not many friendly people around these parts. Elder Maxson has personally requested to escort you to the Prydwen once you finally found your way here.” 

I saluted back to him, stuck between being quite flattered to be thanked for my service, and my own personal thoughts on the Military, which everyone besides me saw as some noble pre-war force. “Thank you. Who is Elder Maxson?” I asked in confusion.

Danse let out a breath. “You have a lot to learn, soldier. Let me give you some details first.”

Paladin Danse explained that they came from the Capital Wasteland. I already knew this, as it was MacCready’s reason for making it over here. Poor MacCready, I had dragged him to the very faction that he wanted to avoid. He wasn’t their enemy or a target to them, he didn’t like them or agree with any of the ideals they stood for. And no one wanted to be around a self-riteous, power-armored, mini-gun or laser rifle equipped soldier they disagreed with. 

Paladin Danse explained that Elder Maxson was the leader of the Brotherhood of Steel, and Elder was the highest rank above Sentinel, and below Sentinel, Paladin. He explained that Captain Kells would greet me on the ship, and that he was not only the captain of the Prydwen, but second in charge. After meeting him, I’d meet Elder Maxson. 

He told me the Brotherhood of Steel was trying to save the Commonwealth from the Institute and their synths, and they wanted to lift the burden that weighed on the people. He sounded like a pre-war recruiter, something that set off massive red flags in my head, but he had undeniable loyalty and passion for the faction, so I wasn’t going to make any judgements just yet. 

I decided I’d go on the ship and talk to Maxson, and decide how I felt from that conversation.

“Great, we’re going on the giant blimp. I just love flying,” MacCready spoke sarcastically, looking my way. I was about to answer, but to my surprise, Danse beat me to it. His response was icy. 

“Then go home, insubordinate civilian,” Danse spoke to MacCready with narrowed eyes. 

“What was that, Danse? I couldn’t hear you over all of that clanking,” he shot back. 

I bit my lip, an attempt to hide the smirk that threatened to turn the corner of my mouth, but my military habits got the best of me, keeping my face calm, a hardened expression to mask my emotions. MacCready was really good at comebacks. Must have been from his time as mayor in Little Lamplight, before he was a mungo. I was waiting to tease him with that word, but it wasn’t quite the perfect moment. 

“Nora obviously made a good decision, leaving you behind,” Danse remarked. 

“At least I don’t need power armor to win a fight,” MacCready remarked. He was mad. He didn’t even try to stop from cussing. I placed my hand on his shoulder and stared him in the eyes, silently pleading with him to stand down. “You got it, boss,” he muttered. 

“Now that your dog has stood down,” Danse insulted, MacCready made a mocking face in response, but said nothing more. Of course, the smartass in him just had to make that face, but quite honestly, I couldn’t get mad. That was totally something I’d do, too, if I was put in his situation. “Let’s go. Are you ready?” He spoke. 

“How are we getting there?” I asked, and he smiled. 

“Vertibird.” 

The military had used vertibirds for travel constantly to travel back and forth, and I had been on them numerous times. Knowing they still existed caused me to smile. “So you guys basically use all the same technology we did. How was the Brotherhood formed?” 

“Ask Elder Maxson aboard the Prydwen. . . Officer.” I was thrown by the sound of my own title, it had been a while since I had heard someone call me that in all seriousness, but, I just shrugged and followed Danse up to the Vertibird. I comfortably sat at the ledge, holding a handle by the door as I let my legs hang out. MacCready looked like he was going to have a heart attack at how casual I was, but I just shrugged. “I used to do this a lot. It’s fun.” 

He just shook his head, holding back what was probably many arguments and complaints about this, and sat on one of the seats, strapping himself in securely. What a baby. 

The Vertibird raised into the air, and I let out a laugh as my butt sipped forward before I casually just pulled myself back up into the sitting position and kept a firm grip. I hoped this pilot had a steady hand, because these things went down hard if struck the right way. 

The Military was still working on these Vertibirds before the bombs dropped, fixing some of its biggest issues, and I wondered if The Brotherhood had continued that research to fix these babies to tip top perfection.

When we arrived, I hopped onto the platform and walked to the man waiting for us. By the way he was carrying himself, I could tell he was the Captain. 

I knew this crowd, this scene, and I wasn’t going to get any answers or respect unless I played my role. I approached him with a stiff salute. “Reporting, sir.” I spoke formally. This obviously impressed him. 

He saluted back. “Pleasure to meet you, Jett. I heard you served in the 626th Military Police Brigade of 2075, and I thank you for your service and the sacrifices you made, soldier. You are quite remarkable, if you don’t mind me saying so. Elder Maxson has been very, very eager to meet you.”

I felt that sinking feeling in my stomach.

They knew exactly who I was. I was the only person alive who knew that information. I hoped they didn’t know about my secret treasonous ways, but they probably didn’t, they probably saw just how much The Military used me for not only the relocations, but occasionally I’d help assist in as many of the different fields they’d let me in an attempt to get away from the primary job assigned to me, hoping I’d get promoted up or out into another branch or unit. These people adored me for fighting a fight I refused to draw my weapon during. 

“Thank you, Captain Kells,” I spoke, remembering his name from Paladin Danse. “I will report to Elder Maxson, sir.”

This was easy for me, being robotic, playing my part. It gave me some slight nostalgia, the part of being a soldier I liked. Recognition for my duties. It just didn’t feel. . . Complete. I knew this was the easiest way to interact with these men and women. I was instantly on their good side because I played my roll like a good puppet.

“Dismissed.” 

Paladin Danse gave me a short, brief tour, I’m guessing so I could make my own opinions of the oprtation before leading me to this Elder Maxson fellow, and it worked. I was admiring the technology, the familiarity, and, God, the resources. We walked by soldiers in full T-60 power armors, shiny and all with the Brotherhood symbol planted right on the chest plate. They all saluted me, making small greetings, polite and respectful towards me. All of them were fully armed with weapons I fully remembered, laser weapons, the standard ones we had used, miniguns, all of these people were armed to the teeth, with technology I had been around to use when it was all brand spankin’ new tech. Now, this was all considered old, aged, but I was pleased to know it wasn’t outdated. I felt a sort of superiority, knowing that I could modify any weapon, any power armor suit in this place easily, no complications, because of my previous training. MacCready walked close behind me, and I could tell he was really uncomfortable.

Paladin Danse brought me to a man in a brown coat. He was looking out of the window, and I couldn’t see his face. 

“Is this Miss. Jett?” The man asked after our footsteps stopped. I hadn’t seen his face yet, he was looking at the city below. From this angle, I saw his sleek haircut - shaved sides, hair from the center section of his head gelled back. 

“Yes, Elder Maxson, sir.”

“Thank you, Paladin. Dismissed.” 

“Understood,” Paladin Danse immediately left without another comment. 

The room was quiet. The air was uncomfortable, as MacCready shifted his weight on his other foot, shoe sliding along the lightly dusted floor. The interaction Maxson had with Danse felt too robotic to me, too. . .Controlled. 

Maxson turned to me now, revealing his face now. His scraggly, yet maintained beard, a deep, solid scar along his right cheek. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked aged. He was also beefier than I expected, at least twice the size of MacCready, who looked a little malnourished next to him. 

Wow, Curie was right. He needed to eat a little more. 

“We’ve been expecting you,” the Elder spoke as he met my gaze. I shrunk under his intimidating eyes. Holy shit, this guy looked like he had been to war twice over and back. “And I’m glad you finally made your way to us. The Brotherhood was originally comprised of surviving military personnel from our place of origin, but since arriving to Boston, we have started to acquire people whose lineage proves to have been military as well. You may meet descendants of the very people who you swore an oath alongside to protect, as I hope you do for us.” 

So it was true. Descendants. I was shocked now. So this is what the military evolved into. Some of these people could be the children’s children’s children of my comrades. My eyebrows furrowed, I started to respond, but my words came out softer than I’d wished. “I can’t believe all of the military tech that survived,” I spoke softly. My hard exterior was gone, and instead, I mourned the loss of the people who were noble soldiers, and wished this very organization organized their wishes rather than the main agenda’s. I hoped they used this technology for the greater good, because I knew exactly what it can do, especially in the wrong hands. 

“Speaking of which,” Elder Maxson spoke. “Proctor Ingram has informed us of some military power armor she acquired, locked up in the Glowing Sea. The small storage unit next to Military Base Aurora. Easy enough to open the storage unit, but that entire base is still heavily patrolled my Military robots. We'd eventually like those codes, by the way.”

I felt my heart stop. That was my base. What did they find there? What did they know? I'd never give him the codes, I knew that right now. I turned to look at MacCready, and he looked back at me, his eyes hard as he examined my face, which relaxed when he noticed how pale my skin must have gotten. 

Maxson continued. “It was really troublesome to retrieve, but it has the initials BRJ carved into the inside of the helm. Given your records, we believe this to be your personal suit of power armor.”

“My records?” I asked. That was my power armor. I carved that in there myself, and I knew exactly which building, which room, they were referring to. I hadn’t even gone close to the Glowing Sea since I woke up, and I didn’t think my Power Armor survived. I thought it’d be destroyed, stuck in the rubble of a collapsed building, but it had survived. My personal power armor, the one I had spent hours maintaining, the one I was so very proud of owning. 

I knew that retrieving that Power Armor would be near impossible, as it was in the center of the Glowing Sea. Going there meant severe radiation damage, and stronger, horribly mutated creatures. How did they know exactly where to find it? They couldn’t have stumbled upon it, they must have learned about it somehow. My records were never in that building, that information was far too classified. 

“Your military records,” Maxson spoke. “We acquired your file from the capsized building, and learned who your power armor belonged to.” I frowned.

“That’s impossible, they would never hold that information there, that place mainly did robot repairs if anything, our section of the base was smaller and only held our armor.”

He removed a note from his pocket, examining it as he read it out loud. “Officer Betty Rose Jett, Military Police.  Service number 91275643. Age twenty-one, soldier awaiting promotion for her civic duty.” 

His words just about rendered every response I possibly had useless. He read my file, and it sounded like he had said it out loud before, with how smooth the words and numbers left his mouth. I felt so weird, as if they had violated my personal space. “Why am I so important?” I asked now. “If I knew I had such dedicated fans, I’d come inspect why earlier.” 

“We believe you can help us play the most essential role in saving the Commonwealth, Officer Jett.” 

I pursed my lips now. “The last time I tried to do that, everyone died. Childrens, civilians, soldiers. . . Everyone. How do you plan on saving the Commonwealth?” I asked. 

“Have you heard of The Institute?” 

“I’ve heard a numerous number of things, bits and pieces. Seems no one is truly sure of their intentions.”

“Beneath the Commonwealth there is a cancer... known as the Institute, a malignant growth that needs to be cut before it infects the surface. They are experimenting with dangerous technologies that could prove to be the world's undoing for the second time in recent history. The Institute Scientists have created a weapon that transcends the destructive nature of the atom bomb. They call their creation the "synth," a robotic abomination of technology that is free-thinking and masquerades as a human being. The notion that a machine could be granted free will is not only offensive, but horribly dangerous. And like the atom, if it isn't harnessed properly, it has the potential of rendering us extinct as a species. I am not prepared to allow the Institute to continue this line of experimentation. Therefore, the Institute and their "synths" are considered enemies of the Brotherhood of Steel, and should be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly. This campaign will be costly and many lives will be lost. But in the end, we will be saving humankind from its worst enemy. . .Itself.”

My eyes narrowed at his choice of words. “Abomination?” I had little reason to believe that fake human beings were inherently evil for the way in which they were created.

His eyes carefully watched me. “Do you have another word for them?” 

He got me there. “No, I never thought of one.” I didn’t spend time finding negative words to label people with.

He continued. “Our goal is to not only rid the Commonwealth of synths, we will also eradicate abominations like ghouls, and super mutants,” he explained. “Rid of the unholy mutated creatures that live in this land.” 

I took a step back, I could feel my throat closing. He thought his word use was going to win me over, he thought I agreed with the rest of the Military, but no, they were delusional, and so was he. “Which part of my file made you think I wanted to participate in this?” I asked hotly. In just violence and fighting.

Maxson’s eyes never broke from mine. He knew what my job was in the past life, and he thought I’d want to save America from the enemy like I did in the good old days. To eradicate the burdens of the land, so people could sleep better at night knowing ghouls, and synths were gone. Just like what they had made me do to innocent citizens. They deserved life, and I wasn’t about to kill a synth or a ghoul for possessing sentience. I wasn’t going to harm and seize any innocent people for the Military anymore. That was the past.

“The days of eradicating people were never the good old days for me. They were the days I wished I could forget. “I decline your offer.” I spoke venomously. “I learned my mistakes. I see this entire organization, didn’t.”

MacCready’s breathing faltered behind me. I could feel the tension radiating off of him now. 

Elder Maxson examined me closely with his hardened gaze. “We aren’t asking you to scour the land to kill the common ghouls and runaway synths. We’re going to send you to kill Super Mutants, ferals, the infestations that rob families of loved ones. I believe you misunderstand me, Jett. I know you were always the conscious soldier, your records—“

My lip twitched. My records. “I’m more than a piece of paper.”

He seemed to approve, a head nod. “Nora is a Brotherhood Knight. She cleanses the Commonwealth for us, and in doing so, she has rid of the dangers of certain portions of the land, and I am quite sure you were responsible for the dangers around Diamond City. You would merely be doing what you always do. Protecting yourself, and the people around you.”

“I have conditions,” I spoke, placing a hand on my hip. “And I know you’ll meet these conditions, because I’m a big deal.” I was going to use this to my advantage. If my charisma was good enough to aid this conversation. But it was true, the way everyone addressed me, the way they looked at me, the respect that had been given in my short time here. I was the last soldier standing. I continued speaking, folding my arms over my chest. “I saw the boost in morale as soon as I walked in here, the respect, the looks. Everyone knows about Betty Jett, and you all surely respect your elders, hm?” I questioned with a knowing smirk as he straightened his back. I felt ancient as the words left my mouth, but I felt ancient, seeing all of this tech, watching others handle them. 

I sighed with a shrug. “Here’s the deal. I endorse The Brotherhood, I’ll kill some mutants and ferals here and there, but if an innocent life comes my way, runaway synth, or ghoul, I’m going to spare them. That’s the deal, take it or leave it. I’ll just have you know that every piece of tech in here, I most likely protected it at one point, I most likely tinkered on it at one point, I most likely have touched these suits, these guns, before any of you guys had. I’d like my property back. My Power Armor. My files. All of it. And I’ll show your team a few tricks for fixing laser weapons. For fixing Power Armor. I can train your men and women. Basic to intense Military training. I just need to know you are making a difference, not destroying this world like I did.” My honesty seemed to help him relax. My intentions, my need to make sure I was doing the right thing, the urgency in my voice.

He smiled now, and suddenly, he was gentle, he was friendly. “Spoken like a pre-war American. Your strong will, the lessons you’ve learned. Your heart is still one of a soldier, and I can respect that. You will still answer to me and Captain Kells, but I would like to see more of you, if you have those demands. The Brotherhood needs you, that much is obvious, your presence alone helps us, but don’t be mistaken. If you betray The Brotherhood in any way, we will take action. Furthermore, I strongly urge you to change your opinion on ghouls, and synths, but you’re from a different time, a time not burdened by such abominations, but you will surely learn. I will put that faith in you.” His expression was serious now. “You are now a Knight of The Brotherhood of Steel. You have been issued your pre-war power armor, and it is waiting for you with Proctor Ingram, whenever you’re ready for your first assignment. And Betty,” he spoke, my name leaving his lips, his words sounding more heartfelt than anything else he’d said to me, and I realized Maxson was a bit softer than he seemed. Odd.

“Congratulations. May you do as much good for The Commonwealth as you did for pre-war Boston.” 

Ha, God, I hoped so. I didn’t answer, I just merely saluted. I was too somber to speak, unsure of whether or not I had made the right decisions. But this time, if The Brotherhood became the evil that was The Military, I’d take care of it myself. “I look forward to working with you, Elder Maxson,” I spoke respectfully now. I saluted at him, but instead of the common salute, he placed a vertical arm over his chest with a closed fist. 

“Ad Victoriam.” He spoke, but in response of the confusion on my face, he explained what it meant. “Or, ‘To Victory’. I will have your things delivered by Paladin Danse, but you will have to take your Power Armor home yourself.”

I licked my dry lips now. “Thank you.” I spoke before he dismissed me, heading to the Power Armor bays I had walked by before, only this time, my green Military power armor was standing in Bay 3 as a group of soldiers marveled the ancient Power Armor. 

“This belonged to Betty Jett, you know,” I heard one of the suited soldiers speak to her friend, who was just wearing BOS fatigues. 

I walked through the crowd and grabbed a fusion core from my pack, my head lifting up from my rummaging to see everyone staring at me now, my face flushing as I got approving looks, looks of endearment, an overwhelming amount of recognition all in one go, and it was enough to make me want to hurry out of here. I pushed the core into the armor, twisting the wheel before the power armor popped open, and I pulled myself into it smoothly, adjusting as it latched on me. I checked my stats, my moved my arms and rolled my shoulder. Someone had fixed the dent in the left shoulder I had gotten from falling off an overpass.

Long story.

Everyone parted as I began walking, moving out of my way as MacCready and I left. It wasn’t until we reached the ground, and had walked a few miles from The Boston Airport, their base of operations, until MacCeady spoke, breaking the silence, breaking the void of thoughts from my exhausted, overexerted brain.

“So, you’re a pretty big deal, then, huh?” He said smoothly. He could feel the tension, the silence was a dead giveaway. 

“I guess,” I said with a roll of the eyes. I felt lachrymose, but perhaps I wasn’t giving The Brotherhood enough credit. I stopped walking, I felt numb now. I pulled myself out of the power armor as MacCready frowned questioningly at my actions before I walked towards him. Without another word, I buried my head into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me without another question, his embrace keeping me together as I felt like I was about to fall the fuck apart.


	18. Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

. . .

. . 

. 

October 20th, 2077  
Three days before The Great War

 

Another.

I tossed the empty bottle to the side with a delirious sigh, my hands running through my knotted, messy hair. God, when was the last time I had run a brush through my hair? Or the last time I showered?

I rolled out of my bed now, crashing onto the ground in a drunken heap. Oh, the room was spinning, arms felt as if they didn’t belong to me, legs unable to keep still as I lifted myself from the ground. I collected the bottles from the ground; All Vodka, 5 bottles worth, just mere sips now in each porcelain bottle. One of them fell out of my hands and broke on the wooden floor beneath me.

“Oh, fuck,” I laughed, stumbling as I took a step, there was enough liquid in the bottle to cause me to slip, I landed on the broken glass, a shard finding itself lodged in my calf. A pool of blood began forming around my leg as I numbly watched until I realized I was bleeding. “Fuck me,” I groaned, pulling myself up, hand pressed against the top of the nightstand as I forced myself up with my upper body strength. This would all be so much easier if I didn’t feel like I was made of noodles.

“Betty?” A soft voice rang now. Fuck, someone was here? Before I could answer the voice, the sound of footsteps grew louder until the door swung open. I was met with the worried, large blue eyes of Rosemary, her cap falling off, her deep red hair poking out into view. As her eyes landed on me, she put her hand over her mouth in shock before shaking her head angrily. “Betty—Son of a—“ Her eyes shifted from me, the broken bottle on the floor, the four other bottles on the ground, the blood that trickled down my leg, the already sizeable puddle of crimson on the floor. “What happened?”

I laughed as she roughly pulled me out of the way of the broken glass, through the bedroom door and to the bathroom as I ran into just about every piece of wall in the house to get there. She threw me onto the closed toilet, bending down as she took out medical supplies and began working on my leg. “I hate the military,” I spoke, placing my hands on my face, letting out a soft, delirious laugh. “So I thought I’d spend my one day off getting plastered.”

“Betty,” She snapped. “It’s four o’clock in the afternoon, and you’ve had how many bottles of Vodka?”

“Hey, hey hey,” I hiccupped. “I didn’t start this morning, I started at 2 AM, I’m not some party girl,” I hiccupped. She shook her head, using the stimpak on me, her hands leaving the newly cleaned wound, examining my face now, examining the knots in my hair, the bags under my eyes.

“Betty, you’re worrying me,” She spoke gently now, her eyes examining me further. “Look, why don’t you take a shower, I’ll help you brush all the knots out of your hair, and you can talk this out with me. I know you hate this job, Betty, but you have to tough it out, you’re awaiting promotion, then you no longer have to help with relocations.”

“Relocations?” I burst out laughing, tears streaming down my face, I couldn’t see her through the tears now. “Relocations. You mean breaking into houses to drag families to be starved, tortured and insulted by the US fucking Government, just because of their race? You mean watching as Nichols and Diaz, Thompson and Rinelli, all those bastards—“

She held up her hands now. “Okay, Betty, I love you, but you have to keep your damn voice down, if anyone hears you saying these things, you know what’ll happen to you.”

“Let them get me!” I shouted, throwing a fist against the mirrored cabinet above the sink, but she caught my hand before I could break it. I let a sob wrack through me as I collapsed on the ground, but she caught me before placing me back into a seated position on the closed toilet. “I just want to die, Rosemary,” I cried. “I don’t deserve to live comfortably and hurt people at the same time. How do you do it?” I asked.

“Betty,” Rosemary started, shaking her head. “You’re saying a whole lot of nonsense. Just go take a shower. Remember, what we’re doing is for the good of this nation, alright? You have to trust the President, not insult him,” she spoke as she began helping me remove my clothes, turning the shower on. “Look, you don’t have to be as ruthless as the others, but you also need to participate. That’s why you had this day off, they think you’re under emotional stress. They even asked me to check on you. Imagine if someone found out about your drinking problem, this, this, depression, or whatever this is—“

I pushed her out of the bathroom now and stood in the shower, leaning against the wall as the water poured over me. I set it to the hottest setting, unflinching as the scalding water turned my skin cherry red.

_The screams of the family last night echoed through my head._

_“Please, please, don’t do this. . . Please, don’t hurt my family!”_

_“Rin, don’t look, please!”_

_“Oh, God, don’t hurt my baby, please!”_

_“We’re no one’s enemy, we’re just a family trying to survive, please, you have to believe us, we’re not spies!”_

_“Please, stop it!”_

_“Don’t take us!”_

I sat on the floor of the shower, hugging my legs until the screaming in my head turned into whispers, whispers that would keep me up all night wondering why I sold my soul to the devil, wondering why I did his dirty deeds.


	19. The Railroad

Nora approached me as I worked on my gun on the weapons workbench, and I stopped working once she leaned against the wall next to me. “Hey,” I greeted, wiping my hands with a towel.

“Hey,” she replied. “I need a sniper on my next mission, so I’m gonna have to borrow MacCready. That won’t be a problem, right?” she asked. I bit my lip. Crap, I wouldn’t be able to argue with her if I wanted to pretend I hated MacCready. 

“Not at all. Please. He’s giving me a headache,” I lied. 

She nodded, then let out a sigh, placing one of her hands on her hips. “Still not getting along?”

“Oh, we hate each other,” I lied humorously. “Travelling with him is awful.”

Nora wiped her face with the sleeve of her worn vault suit and sighed. “Pretend, Betty. At least in front of me.”

“I was lying,” I spoke. “I’m in love with MacCready. He’s the best. He’s really a swell guy.” I smiled sweetly at her, tilting my head to the side. 

“Okay, you don’t have to lie that much,” she spoke with a roll of the eyes. “Goodnight, sweetie.” She sighed, walking past me to go inside the house. I chuckled and turned to continue walking to the restaurant.

Oh, if she only knew. 

\--

MacCready was at my house that night, like he was every night. He had come straight to my house after dinner, and before I could greet him, his mouth was latched to mine, pressing me against the wall as his fingers dug into my hair. I followed suit, biting his lip as he began removing my shirt and bra, his mouth trailing a line down my chest. 

I gasped as his fingers undid my pants and started to slide them off. I pushed his Duster off his shoulders, removing his scarf and long-sleeved shirt. I didn’t want to be the only one standing stark naked.

“Nora told me she was going to be my traveling buddy for the next few days,” he spoke, his fingers trailing down my breasts, his hand gently cupping one, giving me a light squeeze. 

“Yeah, she asked my permission,” I replied, his head dipped down to my neck now, his lips tracing the skin of my neck, his tongue gently sliding across the most sensitive bit of skin, and I sucked in a harsh breath. He chuckled at my reaction. “Well, lucky you, you don’t have to go meet the other faction,” I joked. “I’ll ask Cait to come with me.” We both were well aware that Cait could hold her own, no problem. 

He pulled his lips away from my neck now, his eyes searched mine, his fingers lifted to slowly slide across my lower lip. “I’m going to miss you,” he said now, surprising me, watching my expression, and I couldn’t hide the red that trickled across my cheeks.

“Yeah,” I sighed breathily. We hadn’t really talked about ‘us,’ and I was hoping this whole time that maybe he liked me that way, too, that maybe he was finally ready to move on, but this had given me a good bit of reassurance that this could be true. “I’m going to miss you, too.” He smiled at my response, his hand sliding around my neck, holding the back of my head with his fingers tangled in my hair as he pulled me into a kiss, sweet, gentle, an assortment of emotions hitting me like a wave. He took me to my bedroom, crawling on top of me before his hands removed my leathers, my hands pulling off his duster, his long-sleeved shirt, his pants until we were both in our underwear.

He trailed kisses down my chest, down my navel, to my closed legs, his hands slowly opening them, his fingers removing my wet panties. He licked his lips at the sight of me, my legs spread wide open, my wet sex before lowering himself in front of my sex, his tongue sliding through my folds and up my clit, circling, causing me to let out a shaky moan. He lifted his head up. “Shh,” he scolded softly as I bit my lip and put my hand over my mouth. I may have had my own house, but Nora was my next-door neighbor, and she was most likely at home right now. Also, settlers walked through the backyards all the time. They’d probably be able to hear us if they walked by this side of the house.

He lowered himself back down, his tongue circling and flicking my clit as two of his fingers slid into me, slightly curling up to brush against my sensitive upper wall. I gripped the sheets, letting out a soft, quiet moan as he started a rhythm, eating me out as he fingered me. 

My hips bucked involuntarily, I arched my back, pushing my head into my pillow as the pleasure started to intensify, biting my arm to stop the noises that were threatening to escape my lips as MacCready gripped my hips and held them steady, the movement of his tongue at the right moment caused an orgasm to ripple through me, the pleasure was so intense I had to push MacCready’s head away from my clit as I lay there, shaking. He looked way too smug, but he had figured out what I’d liked after the first few times he’d done that, so I had to applaud his attentiveness. He licked his lips before he took one last lick through my folds, avoiding my sensitive clit, tasting me. He pulled away now.

I bit my lip and opened the drawer on the nightstand, taking out the purple produce he had so much fun with before. At the sight of it, his cheeks went red, and he sat up straighter. “Lay down,” I firmly said, and he complied, laying down with his lower lip between his teeth, biting it as he drunk in my movements.

I ran my hand along the front of his underwear where his cock strained through the fabric, rubbing it, his eyes fluttered shut as he tilted his head back. I pulled his briefs down, releasing him from the constraint, and he jutted up, ready for me, and I bit my lip. I gave him the mutfruit. I grinned wickedly, waiting for him to slide his fingers through the mutfruit, I wanted to watch him do it, and he seemed to get the idea, a soft blush reappearing as he pushed his fingers through the fruit as it made squishing noises, a bit of juice dripping out as he hollowed it out, handing it back to me as he licked his fingers clean.

I bit my lip, hot from arousal, lowering myself onto him, my hand taking the mutfruit and sliding it down his cock as he let out a breath. “Fuu—uu—. . .” He caught himself before he could finish cursing, but he couldn’t come up with another way to end it. 

“Fudge,” I spoke, lowering my mouth to flick my tongue along the head of his member before lowering myself onto him, taking him into my mouth, lips against the mutfruit as I sucked him off with the mutfruit in my grasp, sliding up and down with my mouth. 

“Fudge,” he moaned quietly, causing me to snort. I almost lost my cool and started laughing, but this wasn’t the time for that. My tongue flicked the base of his head as I suctioned my mouth while pulling up, a motion he seemed to enjoy, so I kept doing that until he reached down and gently pulled my mouth off of him, quickly removing the mutfruit with a gasp, trying to regain his composure as he tried to get himself together. If he came now, we wouldn’t be able to do anything further than this for at least thirty minutes. 

I smirked, I liked watching him squirm like this, but he relaxed, taking me by the throat gently, but with a little more urgency than earlier, his tongue sliding into my mouth as I gasped into the hot, sloppy kiss, it was unexpected, but I kissed him back. He was the only person who would touch me like that, and I loved when he did. I trusted it. 

He pulled my arm so I fell forward on the bed, and I understood what he was saying, so I got on all fours in the center of the bed as he positioned himself behind me, his hand stroking my back, the head of his cock sliding along my slit, gathering my fluids. I was shaking, aching, ready for him to push inside of me, but he was taking his time. 

I was about to start whining until I felt him place a kiss on my back, something that felt a bit more romantic than I was used to, but the thought fled my mind when I felt him slide into me, my walls opening up to accept him hungrily, clasping his cock like a vice. We both let out a sigh, and he started pumping himself in and out of me as my hands gripped the sheets, his hands holding onto my hips as he pushed me down onto him harder. It was so much pleasure that I just buried my head into the pillow, moaning into the pillow as I heard our skin slapping together, felt him massaging my walls with his sex, his grip on me tight until I felt his hand come around and flick my clit, and I moaned. “Fuck,” I whispered as he started rubbing my clit, causing my legs to start shaking. It was all so much, my lower half began to coil, and he sped up the pace, sensing I was on the brink of orgasm, sending me into a blinding wave of euphoria, sweet release spasming through my body as his thrusts grew sloppy, letting out a grunt as I felt the wetness increase inside of me. He pulled himself out of me, grabbing a towel from the other nightstand as he quickly placed it on my sex, helping me clean up. He placed a kiss on my temple before he lay in the bed next to me, and we both passed out.

\--

I woke up with MacCready’s arms wrapped around my waist, his head buried into my neck. The alarm was going off, the one he had set so he’d be up before Nora, so she didn’t catch him leaving my house. This was the first night’s sleep that was nightmare-free. I stirred, but I didn’t open my eyes. I was going back to sleep, I didn’t have to get up. It was five a.m., and I wasn’t going to ask Cait to come with me to walk The Freedom Trail until at least ten, when I was sure she’d be conscious. 

MacCready left out a soft groan as he sighed into my skin, he lifted himself up as he placed a kiss on my temple. It was awful romantic of him, something I’d noticed to be happening more often, but I wasn’t sure I deserved it until after he found out who I was, but that was going to be a topic of discussion when we were both home next. 

Hopefully.

He didn’t know I was asleep, and I didn’t want him to. I wanted to see what he’d do. “You better be safe out there, Betty,” He whispered, he didn’t know I could hear his words, probably thought I’d kill him if he thought I could, and decide against it. “I can’t lose you, too.”

He didn’t want to lose me. 

Me.

But maybe it was because he didn’t know who I was yet. What I was. The shit I’d done. I wouldn’t be able to let him put me on a pedestal without feeling guilty for the things he was unaware of, things he’d hate me for. 

He picked himself out of my bed, dressing back up before he left, leaving me wide awake, guilty thoughts swarming my mind. 

\--

I found Cait leaning against the restaurant building smoking a cigarette under the light of the morning sun. She grinned when she saw me, pushing herself off the building. “Well, fuck me. Yer without yer little boyfriend.”

I snorted at her comment. “Boyfriend?” I asked.

She took one last drag of her cigarette before she put it out on the ground. “Ye both act like ye hate each other, but I can see you both care about each other, but enough on that. "We headin’ out?”

I snickered. She already knew I was going to ask her. Well, Nora must have guessed I’d take her, and told me to wait here so I could find her easily. Damn, Nora. It was almost like she was the damn savior of the Wastland. Oh, wait. Yeah, she was

“Nora tell you I’d want to travel with you?”

 

She smirked now. “Of course, darlin’! Where are we off to?” 

\--  
I decided to spend the day with Cait in Diamond City, but after hearing what the rich snobs of the upper stands had to say about us, we spent the entire first half of out day pickpocketing the rich of Diamond City, and then taking a few odds job here and there, before I had enough money to buy some more ammo.

Once restocked, we started around The Boston Commons, where we met a green protectron, a tour bot. There was a symbol on the ground, The Boston Freedom Trail with markings on it. I decided to talk to the tour bot.

“Erm, hello,” I greeted. 

“Welcome, patriot, to Boston Common. The start of the Freedom Trail. Feast your ears and learn more about the historic Freedom Trail and learn the history of Boston Common.”

“Tell me more about the Freedom Trail.”

“Starting here at Boston Common, follow the red path as it winds its way through our great city's streets. Markers on the trail are placed at many famous historic sites. See Paul Revere's House, the Old North Church, the Old State House, Bunker Hill, and many more!”

“Err, thanks,” I spoke as it walked back to its charging pod. Cait and I began following the road, killing Super Mutants on the way.

“All this walking’s wearin’ me out,” Cait commented. MacCready could somewhat keep up with me, but Cait seemed to be a little bit slower. My endurance was pretty good due to all of my military training, so what felt like a brisk jog for me must have felt like hell for her. I slowed down my pace, and took on more enemies head on, killing about ten ferals and three mongrels on the way. We almost stumbled upon a group of raiders, but I quickly crouched when we got too close, Cait following my actions almost immediately. 

After the stretch of land walked, we arrived at The Old North Church. We walked around the building until we found the only entrance and exit, taking in the collapsed, dirtied, abandoned church. Wow, this place used to be a sight to see, and now it was just. . . .Dead.

Well, not completely. At our entry, two ferals carefully pulled themselves off of the ground, turning to me with a snarl before they lurched towards me, but I shot them both in the head before they could touch me. They let out a crackled cry as they collapsed on the floor in front of me. We walked towards the only other place to go, the door on the same wall of the door we came in, which led to catacombs. We searched the dank, narrow, bricked walls, finding feral corpses littered here and there with debris. 

Finally, we found a golden circle on the wall that read The Boston Freedom Trail. It looked like it was connected to a long wire.

Well, this must have been the way to get in, but I didn’t know the password. I pushed the outer ring to see if it’d turn, and it did. 

Well, I was meeting The Railroad, so. . . 

I turned the dial, clicking the center piece as it gave a satisfied click when I clicked on the R.

Aha. Look at me. If only MacCready saw how fast it took me to crack this one. After pressing the final letter, the D, the wall shook apart with a shaky, clattering noise, sliding back to reveal three very unhappy people.

“Stay right there,” the woman with the red hair spoke. “You went through a lot of trouble to arrange this meeting. But before we go any further, answer my question: Who the hell are you?”

\-- 

After nearly getting shredded by the three people who met us at the entrance of the HQ, people we learned were Glory, a synth, Drummer Boy, the messenger, and Desdemona, the leader of The Railroad Deacon showed up out of fucking nowhere, and began swearing up and down that I was some superhero or something. “Really Des? You’re really telling me you haven’t heard of Betty Jetts? Soldier out of time? She was in the Great War, Des, and she survived. Same Vault Nora came from. Aaaand, if that’s not enough, she’s the one who cleared out most of the hostiles in around Diamond City and Goodneighbor, aaand she’s a Minuteman. We totally want her on our side, Des.”

The woman looked me over before hesitating. “Well Deacon, you were right about the last one, so I trust your judgement,” she turned to me. “My name is Desdemona, and I’m the leader of the Railroad. Do you know what we do here?”

“I heard you rescue synths.” I spoke. That’s what I recall the conversation was between those two men. One of them had mentioned The Freedom Trail. 

“We do. We rescue them from The Institute.”

Cait audibly made a gagging noise behind me. I told her to wait outside until I was done talking to Des, thinking she’d greatly appreciate being far away from a cause I knew she didn’t particularly care for. 

The Railroad would rescue synths from the institute, basically, they’d save them from slavery. I knew what synths were from the one time MacCready told me as we were living Diamond City, but I didn’t think I’d met one before. How would I know, if they look like normal humans? It didn’t entirely bother me as much as it bothered MacCready. I was very skeptical of the concept of synths, but I didn’t think that someone who has been given sentience should live their sentient life as a slave. What kind of psychopath would agree with that? 

“Well,” I spoke. “If were helping people escape slavery, I’m interested,” I told Desdemona. “I just need a little more detail.” 

The Railroad seemed like a very one-specific goal faction, but I admired their willingness and devotion to helping a group of people who could otherwise not help themselves. They were doing very noble, and very dangerous work. But, I trusted this group, as I trusted Deacon, who had done a good job with my secret, so far, even if he did make things a bit more difficult at times. He was still someone I’d seen as a friend, a title that I never gave out lightly. 

“Hm,” Desdemona spoke, staring down her cigarette. “Remember that we take our jobs seriously. We’re looking for someone who can get the job done. A real team later.” She let out a soft breath of smoke. 

“Well,” Deacon laughed. “Trust me, if she joins, we’ll be able to take waaay more vacations.”

“Ha ha,” Des spoke to Deacon, she was obviously not fazed by his weird sense of humor. She turned to me now. “When we’re ready, Deacon will have your first assignment. We here go by codenames, Nora’s is Charmer. What do we call you?”

I thought about it for a moment, tapping my chin in thought before I came up with the perfect one. With a smirk on my face, I gave my answer. “Bullseye.”

\--

After meeting The Railroad, Cait and I ran into a few Super Mutants. Cait took out her double barrel shotgun. “Come on, big boy!” She laughed as she started to unload her bullets into one of them while I took out the others with shots to the head. My . . “relationship” with MacCready meant he taught me how to get more accurate headshots. “Let’s go get pissed, darlin’,” She spoke, wiping her hands off with a sigh. “That lot was nothing but a joke.”

I laughed and told her I wasn’t interested in getting a drink, so instead, when we arrived back at Santuary, she still got a drink, but I got a Nuka Cola instead, but Cait respected my decision. 

\--

“Trouble in paradise, I take it?” A voice spoke from behind me. I turned to see Deacon leaning against the crumbling wall of the house. I was currently sitting in the driveway of the home Nora used to live in.

“No,” I spoke. “Thanks, by the way,” I spoke. I turned to face him now. “I’ll tell you, The Railroad reminds me a lot of the way I wanted to be before the war. I’m just looking to help everyone, and it sounds like The Railroad has a bit of favoritism. I’ll definitely assist, and be an ally, but. . . “ I hesitated. “I’m mainly focused on The Minutemen. I think synths deserve life, but I also want to help ghouls. And. . . Regular-skinned people.” Although humans seemed to piss me off more than ghouls did. Hm. Peculiar. 

“I guess I understand what you mean. And I appreciate the fact that you’re willing to help, especially with the little information you have. I think you may like us a little more once you’ve gotten to know us, and once you’ve done a few missions with us. . . “ He spoke. “But, that’s not the reason I came here. You okay? You looked sad.”

I sighed, my head resting against the side of the house. I could see Nora’s old dresser from here on account of the gaping fucking hole in the wall. Seriously, Sturge’s hammering on that one yellow house where the workbench was started to raise some questions. It looks the same way it did when I first got here.

“Why are all of you wastelanders so concerned on how I’m doing?” I asked, closing my eyes. “No one asked me how I was doing pre-war.”

“Because we’re not a bunch of dicks in green uniforms, and you’ve got this post-war glow to you that really brings out those green eyes of yours.”

I cracked a grin, opening my eyes, tilting my head to look at Deacon with my now raised eyebrows and wide eyes, the grin only got wider until I finally let out a giggle. “I like you, Deacon. You’re cool.” 

He grinned back at me. “Hey man, I don’t know how it took you so long to notice.” He shrugged, he leaned against one of the white pillars that held up the short roof above the driveway. “Missing loverboy?”

I groaned at what he said. I hated pet names. They made me cringe otherwise. “No, that’s disgusting,” I snapped with a red face. God, I was a bad liar compared to him, who just looked at me with a raised, unconvinced eyebrow. The master of lies could not be fooled by the likes of me.

“Yeah, time goes by slowly when you’re in love.”

God, kill me. I whined. “Deacon, I’m not on enough chems for you to have the birds and the bees talk with me. I think we both know I know what to expect from that department.”

“I’m talking about the love department, not the sex department, you deviant,” he teased. “You had been outwardly cold to just about everyone here, until that guy stole that ice-cold heart and warmed it up for ya. I mean, you’re still really quiet and keep to yourself, but I saw you walk by Marcy without flipping her off this morning. Had to clean off my glasses just to make sure. Too bad I had no camera to document the moment.”

I rolled my eyes. “Because I finally found out why she is so rude to everyone around here, and I respect her, even if she does say rude, unnecessarily degrading things to me.” But, of course, it was because it a reminder of how my parental units treated me, and that’s why it hurt so much to have someone who lived in the same place as me constantly treating me like I wasn’t good enough. “Don’t start thinking I’m nice.”

Deacon laughed at my reaction. “Okay, yeesh. Look, I’m not telling you that you’re getting soft, I’m saying you seem to be more tolerant of people.”

“It is quite the challenge, let me tell you,” I spoke, scratching the skin above my right eyebrow, my eyes closed as I let out a deep sigh. “I lost my hope in humanity long ago. Slowly but surely, it is being restored.”

“Because you’re in loooooove.” Deacon mused. 

My eyes narrowed warningly at him, but I kept my response slightly humorous. “You’re just asking to get flipped off now.”

“You’re a curious one, Jett. You know that?” He spoke. “MacCready has probably seen that in you, too. You know, because he llllllooooo-” I cut him off by giving him a dead arm. He let out a gasp before he started to laugh.

“Jesus, why was that punch so accurate?” He asked, his arm limp for this brief moment. 

“Common in my unit.” I spoke flatly. “I warned you.”

He grinned. “I honestly don’t know what I was expecting out of that interaction, but I’m glad we had it.” He stood up now. “Anyways, I’m going to get my things together. I’m going with Nora once she gets home with MacCready. She wanted to bring me along to some spooky settlement. See ya.”

“I’m jealous,” I spoke sarcastically as he walked away. “See ya.”

I missed MacCready.

\--

The next day, I woke up with a smile on my face. MacCready would be home today, and I missed him so much. Sleeping in this bed alone was awful. Oh, God, I hoped that after the conversation I had with him, me telling him who I really was, I’d be able to lay here again with him, hoping he’d accept the person I was before. 

I got up from my bed stretched before I went looking for Nora. She was supposed to be home by now.

As I was walking out of the house, she was walking up the steps. “Oh, Betty, there you are. I wanted to talk to you.” Deacon was following her.

I smiled. “Cool. About what?” 

“Have you ever heard of Covenant?” She asked. I frowned, tilting my head to the side. 

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Creepy settlement place,” Deacon spoke humorously, but then he shuddered. “Turned out to be actually creepy.”

Nora turned to look at him with a frown. “The settlement itself is fine,” She turned to me now. “The settlers, on the other hand. . . .” she shuddered. “They were capturing people and torturing them based off of a test to gain entry to the settlement, and dragging off the people they thought were synths to the tunnel across the river, because they believed they could tell synths apart from humans using psychology.” 

“Oh,” I spoke. “That sounds like a nightmare,” I spoke in a light tone. “Guessing the town mysteriously disappeared?” 

Nora winced at my comment. “They all became hostile after we shut down the operation. So yeah, they’re all dead.”

“Jesus, Nora,” I sighed. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because,” She spoke, handing me a few house keys. “I want you to build the defenses back up for settlers to live there for the Minutemen.”

I blinked, looking down at the keys in my hand again. “Nora, you’re giving me the crime scene of a killing spree?” I questioned. “You shouldn’t have.” 

“You’ve been spending far too much time with MacCready.” Nora sighed. Deacon wiggled his eyebrows, and since he was standing behind Nora, I was the only one who could see him do it. “I scrapped all of the contents of the houses, the trash behind the houses and the trash lined up outside the walled settlement. I made three of the houses bedrooms with furniture and all in case you wanted more people to move in in the future. Those keys unlock the houses, so everyone can have their privacy. I just need a defense system.” She smiled. “And I could let you take one of the junkyard dogs. No home is complete without a dog.”

“Wow, Nora, that sounds like a lot of work you put in, I’m glad to finish the job for you,” I spoke. “You’ve done a lot for me,” I looked at the keys in my hand. I had no idea how I’d lug all the junk I needed to build these things there, but I was ready to head out after I gathered all the things I needed. 

The junk gates opened, making a jingling noise as I whipped my head to see who it was, finding a familiar green hat off in the distance. I did my best to look like I didn’t care. “Yuck,” I said out loud, but in reality, I was trying to figure out the best place to have sex around here without getting caught. I was addicted to his touch, and I was so impatient now.

He walked up the road of Sanctuary and I turned back to look at Deacon and Nora with a blank expression. I sighed as I heard his footsteps get nearer, playing the roll, making sure Nora didn’t suspect a thing. I turned to look at him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” He replied back, his eyes lingering on me for a moment too long. 

I felt my cheeks tint, and I quickly walked away before Nora could see it. I knew I confused MacCready, though. I started my search to find the best place to bring him for a little TLC. After a few minutes of searching, MacCready approached me alone. “What was that about?” He asked curiously. 

“You totally made me blush,” I admitted. “Walked away before Nora could see it.”

“Awww,” he teased, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was happy at my truth. I could see in his eyes just how much he cared about me.

“And I’m so goddamn horny, I’m trying to find the best place for us to hide away to.”

MacCready started to tap his chin in thought, not even commenting on my statement before his eyes became super wide. “Oh my god, there’s actually a bunker right behind one of the blue houses. We can just walk through the backyards. Can you do that, leadfoot?” He asked. I almost shot back until I realized he was using that insult as an endearing term now, the playfulness in his eyes and the small smile on his mouth gave it away. 

“Ass,” I playfully spoke, gently pushing his shoulder. The way he was looking at me was too much. I walked around him, crouched now as we started to walk through the backyards, and he’d occasionally stop me with hand signals when he knew I was about to be detected. 

When we finally made it to the bunker, MacCready had already pulled me in, shutting the doors behind him as he threw me onto the bed, his mouth instantly attaching to mine as his hands started to pull my shirt off, my hands working on his belt. 

“Fuck, why does it feel like it’s been forever?” I gasped.

“Because it has been,” He exaggerated as he groaned into the kiss, my hand sliding along his semi-hard cock. He growled into my ear now as he pulled my bra off, his hands running along the curves of my breasts before he pulled his pants off. I gripped his boxers and pulled them down, his cock springing free as I pushed him onto his back, taking his duster off and the green long-sleeved shirt he wore under that so he was naked. I took my pants and underwear off now, my wetness becoming obvious as he watched me remove it from my lower half. I tossed those articles of clothing aside and got on top of him, sliding down onto his cock. He moaned, clearly not expecting me to be so forward about it, but it had been days, and I was aching for him the minute he walked into Sanctuary.

I started to ride him as well as I could, but the pleasure was so intense with his fingers stroking circles on my clit that occasionally I’d pause, but he’d just let go of my clit and grip onto my hips, bringing me down onto him, grinding me into him, pushing until he was in me completely. I leaned down and bit his neck, tiny noises of satisfaction leaving my mouth. 

“Not happy unless I’m inside of you,” MacCready moaned. “I can get used to this.” I picked up rhythm now that matched his perfectly. We both moaned as we grinded on each other for a sweet few minutes before he pushed me off of him gently, repositioning me so I was on all fours. I stuck my ass out, wiggling it playfully as his hand came down on my ass hard. I gasped before letting out a moan. 

“Fuck, Robert,” I moaned. He placed himself back at my entrance, pushing himself in me so deep I gasped. I loved this angle. “I love it when you go in all the way,” I purred.

“Fuck, Betty, you feel so good,” he moaned, and I shivered at the naughty word that came out of his mouth so seductively. My pussy twitched at his words, and he felt it, for he let out a snicker and said, “God, you are so naughty, aren’t you,” he breathed into my ear, his hand gently grabbing the base of my throat. 

“Harder,” I moaned. He was surprised by this, but he squeezed my neck harder as he started to thrust into me at a fast pace, making sure to fill me completely with each thrust. It was a mix between pleasure and pain, mostly pleasure as I felt my orgasm coming strong. “Oh, my god,” I gasped, and he knew what was coming, his thrusts becoming sloppier and sloppier until we let ourselves come undone, my constricting pussy milking his throbbing cock deep inside of me as he filled me, and then he pulled out once he had a minute to catch his breath. I collapsed on the bed, and he collapsed next to me, pulling me into his arms. “As much as I love you finishing inside of me, I think we have to start being careful. My chances of getting pregnant are low, but. . . Really don’t to risk anything.”

“Agreed,” He spoke as he placed a kiss on my temple. “It just feels so good,” he moaned.

“That’s why you’re twenty-two with a kid,” I teased, but he was so right. We lay there for a moment to catch our breath. He kissed the top of my head and ran his hand up and down my arm, holding me tight against his chest. I listened to his heartbeat as he breathed, and cherished the moment I finally had alone with him. “We should go before anyone gets suspicious,” I finally said with a sigh. 

“You’re right,” He said, pulling my chin up gently so I was looking up at him. He kissed me, his thumb gently stroking my cheek as I felt myself melt into the kiss. 

“God, I am so glad you’re home,” I sighed as I ran my fingers along his chin, fingers brushing along his facial hair. We eventually pulled away, heated states shaken off as we started to dress.

MacCready opened the bunker, looking around quickly before he hopped out. He motioned me to come closer quickly, so I lifted my arms up. I was not as swift or tall as he. He grabbed me by the arms and leaned back, pulling me out of the bunker before he carefully shut it before sinking behind the house for cover. 

The bell started ringing for lunch time, and MacCready and I blended in with the few settlers as we then took a seat with Nora and Piper, who motioned us over. “Where’ve you been?” Nora asked curiously with a frown. “I wanted to tell you I’m closer to finding Shaun. Piper and I are going to investigate this man named Kellog’s house, we think he may be the one who took my son.” 

My jaw dropped. “Wow. How’d you find out who Kellog was?” I asked curiously. 

Nora was about to speak when Piper spoke up first. She eyed me curiously, “Betty, your shirt’s inside out.” 

I felt my cheeks heat up, but I tried playing it cool. “Yeah, I actually just swapped out shirts since the old one was dirty. Guess I forgot to check before I put it on,” I laughed in a soft breath. 

Piper’s eyes narrowed as if didn’t believe me, a smile playing on her mouth as she tried piecing it together. I could feel the tension radiating off of MacCready now as we both tried to play it cool. 

MacCready rubbed his neck with a sigh. “Uhm, I’m starving, so I’m going to go get some food.” He started to stand up, leaning when Piper gasped. 

Everyone in the barn turned to look at her. It was dead quiet. MacCready slowly moved from his position, confusion littered all over his face. All over mine, too. Did something give us away? 

She looked down at her food, the Yao Guai roast halfway finished. She didn’t say a word. 

“Well, I’m going to go get food, too,” I spoke slowly, getting in line. MacCready and I made no eye contact the entire time. We both knew Piper was suspicious. And we both knew how little we wanted that information in her hands. 

MacCready had ordered the same as Piper, the Yal Guai roast and I ordered cooked softshell meat. I sat back down at the table next to MacCready, “What were you saying, Nora?” I asked, but before Nora could say anything, Cait leaned over the table to grab the extra fork off of our table, but she stopped, her hand grabbing MacCready’s collar, pulling it out of the way, causing MacCready to flinch and push her hand away. 

“What the hell, Cait?” He snapped. 

“Is that a hickey I saw?” She questioned, her eyes as big as saucers now. 

“No, weirdo! Why would I have a hickey?” He asked defensively. I watched Piper’s eyes shimmer now. She knew. She fucking knew, and now I was mentally pleading with her to not say another word. MacCready was unaware of this, as he was focused on getting Cait to leave him alone, a blush littered his cheeks. 

“Are you two—. . .?” Nora asked suddenly, her eyes locked on MacCready, refusing to break her gaze until she decided to give me the same staredown, and it felt like a parent asking me. 

“Oh, God, Nora,” I shuddered. I was uncomfortable. Piper had a shit eating grin on her face, and so did Cait, who overheard as well.

“Bangin’ MacCready?” Cait asked in surprise before she grinned widely. “Nice. Sounds like something I’d like to join in on.” She winked. 

I was tato red at this point. “No, MacCready and I aren’t doing that. MacCready is the worst.” 

MacCready scoffed. “You know, while traveling, sometimes you touch sh-” He stopped himself from cussing and groaned. “-stuff. . .” he corrected now, “. . .you shouldn’t. Some weird plant touched me on my neck. It’s harmless. Now can you guys stop accusing me of. . .That. . .With my client? That’s bad for business,” He scowled. God, he was a good liar. “I’m a hired gun, not a hooker.”

“No need to get yer panties in a twist,” Cait muttered as she grabbed the extra fork from our table and turned back to her food. I started carefully picking at my mirelurk, not entirely thrilled with the idea of eating after Nora had just mortified me. I only liked being dirty around MacCready, and the thought of everyone knowing what MacCready and I did all the time, and everywhere, made me feel weird. I hated everyone knowing, but I also knew MacCready didn’t mind so much as I did, and he’d probably get sick of hiding it, and soon. His finger twitched on the table, I could tell he was reading Piper like a book. I was wondering what his game was, until he made it clear.

MacCready flashed her a charming grin. “Like what you see, angel?”

I nearly choked on my bite of food, I looked at him with a bit-back frown as Piper’s eyes became wide, a look everyone at this table had worn at least once already today, and it wasn’t even dinner time. She seemed to frown as if she was thinking of something, her eyes shifting to the upper left corner of the wall as she seemed to wrack her mind of possible answers. “Just, oh, no,” Piper spoke with a curt laugh. “Not in a million, billion years.”

MacCready kept the playful grin. “Suit yourself,” he spoke as he continued to eat his food as if nothing had just happened. He had definitely thrown Piper off the scent.

“Wow, I,” Nora finally said, her fingers resting flat against her forehead as she let out a sigh. “I don’t even know what to say from here, besides this. If you two ever meet anyone on the way-” She pointed at us, she was smirking, and it made me quiver before groaning. Everyone just loved to make me uncomfortable. She had been hanging out with Deacon too much, the King of making people uncomfortable. 

“You know, be safe, babies can happen anywhere. Even the park,” she softly spoke before she stood up from her seat, taking her empty plate to the counter before she walked off without another word.

(Author’s note: If any of you are confused by this, when your spouse in the game asks you to go to the park, the sarcastic option reveals Shaun was conceived at a park. Fun fact: It’s the same park where Swan lives in the Boston Commons.)

MacCready, Piper and I sat there with that earth shattering mental image of Nora and Nate in the park, fucking on a bench or against a tree, or hell, on a fucking picnic blanket, and suddenly, I couldn’t eat anymore. I pushed my food away from me before slumping down, crossing my arms on the table in front of me before stuffing my head in the makeshift hole my arms made, letting out a loud, pained groan. 

MacCready laughed at me. “Big baby.”

I pulled my head up to glare at him through the curtain of my hair. He finished his food and walked away, leaving Piper and I alone, as she sat there in front of me.

“Hey, Little Blue, you know,” she spoke softly. I sat up now, my makeshift curtain of hair slid back down my shoulders as I changed the angle of my head, granting me vision again. Her eyes were soft, and her mouth kept hesitating to let words out, but she spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. “MacCready’s not the best guy around. And I’m worried you’re going to get caught up in some bad stuff because of him.” 

I narrowed my eyes before pursing my lips. “If Nora trusts him to be my companion, my companion he shall be.”

“I hope that’s all he is for you,” she spoke. “Because he’s not a good guy to be shacking up with. He’s a liar, and he’d do anything for caps. He’s incapable of caring for anyone but himself,” she stood up now, taking her plate with her. “Just keep that in mind. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” She walked away before I could say another word. 

I let out a sigh before picking myself back up. I gave Dogmeat the rest of my food, which he happily ate before giving me sweet puppy kisses. I gave him a good belly rub before I walked to Nora. She had given MacCready something, and he held whatever it was in his cupped hands with wide eyes. He hesitated, looking up at her, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I was too far away. MacCready put whatever she gave him in his pocket before he hesitated. She smiled at him and laughed before patting him on the shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze before she started to walk away with Piper, back to Diamond City.  
MacCready turned to look at me now, he approached me wearily. “Are you okay?” I asked him. “What did she give you?”

He smiled at me. “Nothing.”


	20. Please Please Me

Before I helped Covenant build defenses, I had to finish with the ones to replace the three that were destroyed during an attack on Sanctuary.

After I was done with my three machine gun turrets, something that was more repetitive than tasking, I started to build shack bridges where I wanted the turrets so I could place the turrets on top of them. Turrets on the ground were always a bad idea. Melee fighters could easily destroy them, and turrets up high covered more ground, able to reach more spots.  

By the time I was done, it was 8 o’clock, the sun slowly setting. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead and walked over to the section of the lake with a towel and homemade shampoo and conditioner where no one could see me. I had to take a bath.

I took some rad-x and unclothed, taking a swim, shivering and gasping at the initial temperature, but once I got used to it, it felt like heaven. I took out my mutfruit shampoo and tarberry conditioner, making sure to wash my hair super well. I worked up quite the sweat building turrets. I let out a long breath of air as the pleasurable feeling of the water as it caressed my skin soothed me, my eyes shutting as I relaxed.

I heard rustling behind me, and I turned to make out what it was. “Hey there, beautiful.”

I blushed and smiled, letting out a laugh. “MacCready, you’re in a good mood.”

He walked into the moonlight now, and I could see the excitement in his young eyes. “Yeah, I’m happy I guess that’s what happens around good company.” He slyly replied, sitting on the edge of the grass, his elbows propping his head up. “Also, this view is amazing.”

I smiled with a blush. Such a charmer. I swam over to the ledge, reaching up and touching his hands with my wet ones. They didn’t pull away as I squeezed his warm hands in mine before I placed a Rad-X in his hands. “Come in here and wash up. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

He stood up and started to undress. I admired the way his body looked in the dimming light, the outline of his muscles, the pattern of his hair. . . 

He stepped into the water now. “Holy mother of-” He gasped before I pulled him into the water deeper, my hands sliding along his chest. I burst into a laughing fit when my hands brushed along his very erect nipples. “It’s cold, okay?” He snapped. “Give me a minute.”

“Mmmkay,” I mused, humming, my hands sliding into his hair as my needy mouth latched onto his, his soft lips sending me into a wave of euphoria. His muscles relaxed, his arms sliding around my waist as his tongue rubbed against mine, his lips falling into sync with mine, his breaths becoming shallow like mine at our increasing arousal. “Why do we keep doing this?” I sighed against his lips.

He didn’t answer, instead, his hands tangled themselves in my hair. We both knew the answer. Why we kept doing this. It was because we needed this. This was comforting, soothing, familiar, and man, the way his body worked with mine just felt so right. 

I hoped that maybe he agreed, that he felt the same way about me.

“Someone out there?” Nora’s voice asked loudly, causing MacCready and I to freeze in our spots. He bent down so he was barely visible, hiding behind the mounded dirt ledge. 

“I’m taking a bath,” I called back. “Took some Rad-X. Won’t be in here for too long.” 

“Okay. Have you seen MacCready?”

As she asked this, I felt the familiar hot mouth on my breast, causing my breath to hitch. I glared daggers at the man through the darkness, even though I knew he couldn’t see it. “Nope.” 

“Alright. If I don’t see either of you before you head out tomorrow, have a safe trip.”

“Thanks, Nora.”

“And I think you and MacCready could really become close if you two tried to work out your differences. I think he may like you.” 

I was too stunned to have an immediate response. Before I could even utter a sound, she was gone. 

MacCready pulled his mouth off of me, his eyes searching mine. He grinned, his mouth capturing mine, breaking me out of my spaced out trance. I ran my hands through his damp hair now. “I guess you’re not half bad,” he teased. 

I ran my fingers along his spine, he shivered at my touch as I leaned myself against him. His hands traveled down my back, sliding around my hips to pull me closer by them. His mouth brushed against the crevice of my collarbone. Just like that, my stress faded away, and I unwound at his touch.

\--  
After my little bath with MacCready, I realized I was a bit behind on scavenging. I just had a few more things to disassemble so Nora could get started on her newest project tomorrow morning: Ensuring my defenses were placed in the perfect spots. I was sitting in the driveway of the house Nora used to live in before the war, leaning against the faded, crumbling blue wall as I sorted out all of the scrap I scavenged. 

I pulled my hair into a ponytail, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear as I began breaking down scrap into their basic components.

“Hey, beautiful,” a voice spoke to me, causing me to frown in confusion. Didn’t sound like MacCready. Before I answered, I stood up, turning around to inspect the face of the deeper voiced man to find a grin pointed my way. The man was in his late twenties, early thirties, with dirty blonde, unkept hair and brown eyes. He wasn’t the most unattractive fellow around, but he was also no dreamboat. 

Either way, not my type.

I raised an eyebrow now. 

“Don’t call me that,” I said plainly, folding my arms over my chest. I wasn’t playing these games. I wasn’t a flirty person. Well, not to anyone else but MacCready. It was more of me having a problem not hating everyone than me wanting to stick to one man; Although I was indeed a one man type of lady, flirting was harmless, not like we were telling people about us anyways. We weren’t off limits, in the eyes of everyone else.

My personal preference was that no one tried to get chummy with me. I walked past him and towards Nora, Danse and MacCready, who seemed to be engrossed in a conversation before I approached them. “You okay?” Nora asked with a frown once she expected my face. 

I nodded silently, folding my arms against my chest. “Figured now’d be a good time as any to take a break.”

MacCready studied my face curiously, but he said nothing. Danse continued whatever story he was telling Nora, who nodded, a sign she was listening, until Danse was cut off once more, this time by the man from earlier, who unfortunately enough for me, didn’t take my obvious disinterest as an answer. 

“Hey, I was talkin’ to you, sweetheart,” I felt my skin crawl now as I turned to watch the man I had so blatantly brush off walk towards Nora, MacCready, Danse and I. God, I had walked into this group to encourage him to not approach me. Looked like he was bold.

A bold fool.

“Yeah, that’s why I bailed,” I spoke harshly, causing MacCready to tense up, turning to look at this guy with a sneer. Nora put her hand on her hip and flashed him a glare, as Danse turned his entire body to face the man.

“Wow, don’t have to be such a bitch,” the man said, taking a step closer to me. 

I clenched my teeth. I was about to make a comment, but MacCready beat me to it, taking an even bigger step than the man, standing just slightly in front of me, his hand brushing mine for a brief moment. “Fuck off!” He snapped at the man, causing everyone within a two mile radius to just about fall over.

“Language!” Nora gasped quietly, her hand clasped over her mouth as the man took a surprised step back. It was common knowledge that MacCready never cussed, yet here he was, telling someone to fuck off. He also looked angrier than I’d ever seen before, nostrils flared, mouth curled downwards in a frown, and his eyes, oh, man, the eyes of someone who was not messing around.

“Sorry, Nora,” MacCready spoke, he turned to look at me now, but I hesitated, taking a step back with a frown. Why’d he get so angry, and try to defend me?

His brows furrowed together in confusion as I hesitated, unsure of what to even say. “I could’ve handled that,” I spoke, folding my arms across my chest. “But thank you. It seemed he was incapable of reading between the lines.” 

Nora shifted, her eyes glancing at the two of us, expecting us to start yelling at each other or something.

MacCready studied my face. “You’re welcome.” He knew Nora was watching, so he just turned back to Nora and Danse. 

“I forgot what I was saying,” Danse said with a huff. 

MacCready rolled his eyes at this. “Oh, no, I really wanted to hear your story,” he said sarcastically before pulling out a cigarette. I bit my lip, my eyes glued to him until I realized Nora was looking at me, and snapped my gaze away from him to look at her.

She had a tiny smirk on her face, but I rolled my eyes and shook my head, taking the cigarette from MacCready’s fingers and walking away with it. “Wh-Hey!” He called after me, but that was the only attempt he made to retrieve the cigarette, as I smirked and took a drag.


	21. The Broken Soldier

Mama Murphy was right. It was time to talk to come clean about the past, to hopefully put it behind me once and for all. Sure, the nightmares were probably not even close to over, but I no longer wanted this vice around forever. I wanted those chains off of me. 

MacCready sat on my couch, clicking on my radio before leaning back, a cigarette between his fingers. Normally, I’d be pretty heated at him for smoking in my house, but he was next to the gap in the wall - my poorly constructed attempt at a window, something I’d have to put glass on eventually before it rained and ruined my new furniture. 

I was instead a bit pleased at his casual action, sitting beside him with a small smile, breathing in his comforting scent. He turned to me with a closed-mouth smirk when he saw my face. “Nora knows I’m here.”

“Hm,” I mused, examining my nails, scraping the dirt from underneath my right pointer finger’s nail with my left hand’s thumb. “Darn, and here I was, hoping to kill you and get away with it. Foiled.”

He rolled his eyes with a scoff, taking in another drag. He then pulled his hand from his mouth, cigarette loosely hanging from his pointer and middle finger on his right hand, casually placing the heel of his hand against his knee. “I recognize that look in your eye.”

I snickered to myself. Boy thought I was going to jump his bones at any second, but instead I examined his face pensively, tapping my finger to my chin. “Why do I trust you so much?”

He let out a breath of air, shaking his head. “Been trying to answer that question myself.” He pursed his lips, sucking in his mouth before rolling his lips back through his teeth. His dried lips parted, his eyes examining me now. 

Perhaps it was because he was so familiar, he acted like everyone who surrounded me pre-war acted, he acted like a mercenary did, acted how the military did, but there was more underneath all of that. A soul in there. A conscience of a devoted husband, and loving father. The spirit of a young boy, but the heartache and traumatic experiences of a wastelander, molded by tragedy.

And who was I?

“What do you see when you look at me?” I asked now, my eyes locking with his. He put his cigarette out now, crushing it in the ashtray on the armrest on the right side of the couch, the side that was pressed against the wall beside the front door as he turned, shifting to face me on the couch.  

“What do you mean?” He asked now, and I hesitated, debating on whether or not I should continue this conversation.

“When I look at you,” I started, causing him to raise his eyebrows in surprise. This was the closest to speaking my feelings I had gotten with him, and he was probably curious to hear my opinion. “I used to just see the mercenary. On one hand, you were pleasantly familiar, but on the other, a reminder of my past. Of the people I used to know. So I was cold to you, on instinct,” I hesitated as his expression didn’t change, he continued watching me, waiting for me to continue. I cleared my throat and reached for my purified water, taking a sip before placing it back down. It wasn’t alcohol, but it would do. I didn’t need alcohol to cope anymore.

“But you never did fit in with The Gunners, did you?” I asked with a quaint, endearing laugh. His eyes softened, as he heard the compliment in my words, rather than take insult to them. “Because even though you try to hide it, deep down, you’ve always known the basic fundamentals of right from wrong, and although you may play it like you’re this bad boy, stealing, pickpocketing, asking for more caps. . . . You’re not a cold-blooded killer. You’re proud of your skill, but you’re not proud of what The Gunners asked of you, and that’s where you and I are the same. I am also not proud of what The Military asked of me,” I swallowed hard now. “Although I beat myself up all the time, for what I did by Military order, I never did fit in, I was never aggressive enough, I could never look an innocent man in the eyes as I pulled the trigger,” I shook my head. “I was there, because I had to be, I had to go to my job every damned day, some days I’d be stationed for weeks on end, and I’d have to submerge myself in the mentality of a hardened killer, and when I’d come home to my apartment, I’d unravel, I’d fall apart, all those things, all those tasks. . . “ I swallowed again now, his expression soft, understanding, as he let me continue. 

“All that blood on my hands. It’s enough to keep me up at night. The torture I endured in 111,” I laughed now, a dark, hard laugh. “It’s nothing compared to my time in the Military. Hell, maybe it was even deserved.” I bit my lip now. I had said too much. I turned my head away, refusing to look at him as my eyes took a sudden interest in the details of the dining room table, hoping he wouldn’t yell at me, tell me I was being overdramatic like Rosemary’d might do, she was my friend but she was not the most gentle person. If she was irritated beforehand, before one of these types of self-hating rambles, she’d become upset at me instead of console me.

“Betty, you didn’t deserve what happened to you in Vault 111. You didn’t have a choice when in The Military,” he said, I felt something graze my hand and flinched, quickly turning to look at him. I hated it when I was touched without looking directly at whoever made the gesture, but when he did it, it made me feel. . . Tingly.

His warm hand grasped mine, and I looked up at him, my eyes welling with tears. I saw his broken expression mirrored mine, we both knew the pain of the guilt, we both knew the pain of being ordered by madness.

I examined his face, trying to find something else, a hint of anger, irritation, at my words. But he kept his comforting gaze upon me, his hand holding mine was the only thing that kept me steady, but I didn’t reply. 

“If you would have walked out, what would the military have done to you?”

A memory of Diaz’s insubordination came to mind, and I flinched. He had a permanent gash along his left cheekbone to the right corner of his lip, a scar that had not been sewn quite expertly that had become raised, jagged, a haunting reminder of what simply saying “no” would get you. Diaz had refused to come to one of the “relocations,” which resulted in Nichols and a few others kicking down Diaz’ door and attacking him. Diaz had no choice but to take the beating, he couldn’t tell any higher-ups of the problem or they’d condemn him for not following his orders, and perhaps suspend Nichols and the rest involved with pay.

The Government was not a nice organization, and they didn’t take pity on sympathizers, especially when the sympathizer was under the direct command of the Military. 

I swallowed hard. “After getting the ever-loving shit beaten out of me,” I started. I pursed my lips before parting them. “I’d be dishonorably discharged, marked as treasonous, and killed. Brutally.” I ran my fingers through my hair. 

“Stop beating yourself up for something that was out of your control,” he said gently. I was stunned by this soft side of him, stunned it’d come out on me. I wasn’t used to it. “I still do that from time to time, and all it does it make things worse. The past is the past. . . Leave it there. The war is over.”

The war is over. . .

Sometimes, it felt like it wasn’t. It brought me back to reality to hear his words. He was right. He was completely right. I took in his words, absorbing them. 

“It’s time you learn what I did,” I started. He studied my face, but I wondered if he could see how nervous I was with my sweaty palms, suddenly chapped lips, and dried throat, my nervous eyes shifting away from his gaze as I felt uneasiness in the pit of my stomach as if I was going to puke now. My heart quickened, the temperature in the room felt like it was kicked up ten degrees, and I was wondering if I should speak now, or speak some other time, but by the look in his eyes, I knew he was ready to hear this, and hear this, he shall.

“I was an MP. Military Police. I didn’t exactly do things a normal police officer might do, unless specifically ordered to during a serious state of emergency, but I mostly dealt with highly classified tasks like protecting our nuclear bomb warehouses, ensuring no citizen interference with our supply runs or our patrols, and. . . “ I reached for the closest bottle of alcohol, but once I realized I was doing, I grabbed the water instead, taking a sip to ease my suddenly dry mouth before I met the eyes that would soon be filled with disappointment. He hung on my words, awaiting for more, but this was hard for me. No one in this new world knew anything about my time in the Military. “. . . And, at the end of the war. . . Propoganda came out to scare the Commonwealth of their own Chinese American neighbors. The Red Menace came out as a game, and corrupted the minds of children who didn’t know better. And the Military, my team in particular. . . Was the team sent to forcefully remove Chinese Americans from their homes.” 

He went rigid in front of me. I could see the disbelief in his eyes, the confusion, the surprise. “So concentration camps.” 

I burst out into tears. I placed my hands into my head. “It was either camps, where they either died there or died at the Robco Sales & Services Center, which was actually a front for removing prisoners’ brains for Robobrain testing with supervision of the Military Police. I wasn’t stationed there specifically, but the other unit was.” My heart was heavy. “Robert, when you sign up for the Military, you have a contract. You know that. You were a gunner. That means that once you join, you have no choice. You have to do the task given to you, but in these times, disobeying Government orders were a lot more serious. Disobeying meant treason, and treason. . . “ I shook my head. “They made an example of one of the early comrades of another unit for letting a family escape when I first started, and my unit personally paid our own comrade, Diaz, a visit when he didn’t show up to work in protest.” I closed my eyes tight, remembering what they did to him. Things too gruesome to talk about, images that only my mind needed to burden.

He held my hand now. He was still with me. He didn’t hate me yet. He looked at me with gentle eyes. They told me to keep going.

“How can you still stand to look at me?” I asked, I could feel the crushing weight of my mistakes on my shoulders, and I felt as if it aged me. 

He squeezed my hand reassuringly. “You don’t realize it, Betty, but our stories are like two sides of a coin. The gunners also trapped me in a contract, and they had me do some things I never wanted to do. Oh, the things they made me do just to pass initiation. . . “ He shook his head and winced. “Keep going. I’m listening.”

I hesitated now. “After my parents kicked me out at eighteen, I had to find a place to live. I didn’t want to be homeless. I had no friends, no other family, no lovers to help me. I was completely on my own. Then, I found out the Military needed some close-range soldiers, and being the wild child I was, I knew how to shoot. I’d always take my dad’s 10mm from his dresser and run out into the forest, shooting trees. I never learned how to shoot long range, so it was a tailor made job for me. They chose me specifically for the 626th Military Police Brigade of 2075, led by General Joseph Scald. He wasn’t around much, he didn’t seem to be able to stomach the jobs he gave us. I understand now,” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “The first day he met me, he looked me in the eyes, and he said, ‘I’m sorry that your potential has to be wasted on a job like this,’ something he said that I never dare repeated to anyone else in my squadron. You only said that kind of shit if you were asking for a kick in the head. They thought, with my background, that I wouldn’t be afraid to hurt the innocent. They thought I was capable of this job. Scald knew otherwise. Informing the leader of the United States Armed Forces, the actual United States President, would mean I’d be out of a job, and out of a life, and he spared me. I took the job, and the first few months were the greatest of my pre-war life. I didn’t know about the families they’d force me to remove- they didn’t tell me that until I was already deep into my duty, protecting nuclear sites. Then, they snuck in a “cleansing” job every now and then until it was fifty percent of our job. The families I saw. . .The fear in their eyes. . . The racist, rude things my squadron would say to them, the unnecessary violence. . . I will admit, there was one family I let free. My squadron hadn’t found them yet, and they were hiding in the back room of an abandoned Slocum Joe that had hit hard times during the war. I remember turning the corner, I watched a mother grip onto her son with tears streaming down her face. The boy held onto his mother for dear life. I quickly walked over to them, they flinched at me, thinking I was going to hurt them, but I told them to run. The look on their faces. . . “ I sighed. “It was the nail in the coffin. I had become depressed, started drinking like crazy, if they found any drugs in my body I’d be discharged before I could say another word, so I had to be an obedient soldier. I still attended these “relocations,” as I was told. I went from only standing in the corner of the room as my squadron ‘took care of it,’ to standing outside, sneaking a bottle of Bourbon to drown out the screams of the innocent. I was a ‘good little soldier’. Well, until the war. . . “ I spoke.   

“The first thing I remembered was Nichols going down first, that bastard got a sword right between the eyes. It was the most surprised I’d ever been, but we had been informed of some suspicious activity on the coast of California, so we jumped into action. The Chinese soldiers were wearing their chinese stealth armor, so they were completely invisible. I watched as my comrades fell, I didn’t raise a fucking arm to aim, I didn’t fire a single bullet. I just stay frozen as everyone yelled at me to get it together, but I had made my choice. I had directly defied orders to attack, and I let them attack. I watched as the man in front of me suddenly became visible, and I looked at the orange armor covering his face. I told him I was sorry, and he stopped cold. He seemed unsure of what to do, as I looked at him. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I hope he could see the sincerity in mind. I told him to end it, I told him it was okay, and I told him I was sorry for what my organization did to his people.” I swallowed hard now. 

“I couldn’t live. I had just betrayed my comrades, the people I was legally required to protect. I watched them all die around me, and I was happy to watch. Happy to see those bastards get what they deserved, but I. . . I had just committed fucking treason, and sympathized with the enemy. I smiled at the man who then slid his blade through my thigh, a curious way to kill me, as I lay, blood spilling out of me. I think he meant for it to be quick, but he was interrupted by a man in a white lab coat, followed by two soldiers from another squadron, the shot the man until he stopped moving, until they had unloaded an entire mag into him, and I looked in horror as the man bled out right next to me. I took off his mask, and we looked at each other for who we really were, and I could see the regret in his eyes as well. He died mere seconds later. No one could last long after the rain of bullets he had received. The man in the lab coat looked at me with a hideous fucking smile. ‘Go collect the specimen,” he spoke before he turned to walk back to a vehicle off a few feet away. The Vault-Tec vehicle. He must have not seen what I had just done, because they thanked me for fighting, for my service, and they treated me with utmost respect. The next thing I knew, I was on that metal table in front of my cryopod, my leg open like a cabinet, my life slipping out of my fingers. I can’t remember how we got in, I don’t know how I didn’t see Nora, I don’t know any of that. Maybe I got in right before her. It’s the only logical explanation. But I had expected to die. I didn’t think I deserved a second chance,” I hesitated.

“For a while after coming back to the surface, I had held little care for my own life. I didn’t want to try to help anyone. Look where that got me before? I thought maybe the Military was the noble option, but. . . “ I shook my head. “I started realizing that perhaps my judgement has always been flawed. And no amount of scrubbing could clean all of the blood off of my hands. I didn’t trust any of you. Didn’t actually trust the Minutemen to be an actual good cause. . . .” I let out a breath. “I had to quadruple check before I agree to joining anyone, that we are indeed, not hurting innocence, that we are in fact doing well for the world. I was a bad egg before my service because my parents had deemed me the least favorite child from the very fuckin’ start. And I had proved that was true when I tried to do something noble for this country.”  The country that no longer was. I looked at the ground now. “But, nothing can change what I’ve done, and I understand if you no longer want to talk to me. So, given all of this information. . . ” I hesitated. “How do you feel about me?”

He didn’t miss a beat. His answer was quick as he pulled something from his pocket. “I want you to have this,” he said, placing it in my hand, and upon inspection, it was a small, carved, wooden soldier. I recognized this, I had caught him looking at this same toy soldier once before. 

“I know a carved toy soldier is a strange gift after getting all of that off of your chest. My wife Lucy gave this to me right after we met. I. . . I uh, told her I was a soldier and she made it for me. Never could bring myself to tell her the truth. . . That I was just a hired killer. The soldier story was the best thing I could come up with. I didn't want to lose her because of what I was.”

I absorbed this information, holding the small soldier in the palm of my hand. This was the most meaningful gift I’d ever received. Not only did he hear me out, he gave me his most prized possession, the gift from his wife, and it now rest in my hands. All of his trust, his hopes, dreams, fears, angst, all of it, all in this one wooden toy soldier.

“Damn, I miss Lucy. No matter how bad things got, she was always there to give me the courage I needed to press ahead. . .To never give up. When she died, I thought that feeling was gone forever. Then I met you. You have the world's problems on your back and here you are, confiding them in me, giving me a level of trust that I know is hard to give, and. . .

“I never thought I’d meet someone who’d stomach the fact I used to run with The Gunners. And I-. . . Hearing your story, I understand, and I accept you, for all you’ve told me, and I promise, I promise to not take your trust for granted.” He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear now. “I think you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met, and I’m glad you’re here now. I know you are a good person, through and through, even if you don’t see it, I do.” He smiled now, I could see the joy in his eyes. “You’re still a beautiful pain in the butt, and I'm so, so glad I met you. I'm so glad you're here with me.” 

“I like you, MacCready,” I blurted out now, holding the small soldier in my hand as if it was going to fall right out. Now, this little wooden soldier meant the world to me, and I would die before losing it, if he trusted me with it. This little token that expressed his full trust in me, and I was going to also make sure he knew how much I valued his trust in me. I hoped maybe this little gift meant he liked me just as much as I liked him. “I have for some time,” I continued, I couldn’t see his expression, on account of me staring down at the gift in my hands, rolling it gently, carefully in my clammy hands. “And this gift means so much to me, I promise I’ll never lose this. I never want to let you down, you’ve done so much for me, I can’t even begin to express my gratitude. You saw me for who I was, and you’re still here, still. . . Giving me affection, I—“ I couldn’t speak anymore, there was a lump in my throat as I tried to hold it together.  
He didn’t reply, he just leaned forward, lifting my chin so I was looking at him, before placing a kiss on my lips, a kiss that held more than just lust, a kiss that had so much passion, I nearly made an embarrassing noise, but I held myself together as his arms wrapped around me, and I melted into his kiss, his embrace fighting away my fears, fighting away all those bad emotions that had lingered in me for so long, and I found home in his arms.

He pulled away from the kiss now, his hand on my cheek, his thumb gently stroking my cheekbone, a large smile on his face. “I feel the same way, Betty.”  
“I want you to have something of mine, if you’re giving me this,” I spoke now, standing up, walking to the bedroom where I opened my cupboard to find all of my pre-war possessions. I gently placed the wooden soldier on top of my folded military fatigues, and picked up the item I could never quite bring myself to hate, the item that I had worked so hard to earn, that meant more to me than just the image of it, that meant more to me than what it stood for.

My breast badge. Silver, heavy, preserved perfectly, an eagle as the top of the badge, wings lifted, ready for flight, placed above the silver, carved ribbon with the carved words, “United States Army” above the MP symbol, the snake at the top of the symbol wrapped around the small, carved words that read, ‘This we’ll defend.” Wrapped around the bottom half of that circle of the badge was the other silver ribbon, carved on the left side, ‘Military’, and on the right, ‘Police,’ the middle small portion of the carved ribbon blank. 

It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, and on paper, I must have looked like a noble, dutiful soldier, and this badge, this heavy, beautiful badge I held in my hand, was what I looked like at face value, but it meant all of those hard years of following and doing what I was told to make it to the height of the food chain. I was about to be promoted to Colonel.

When I turned around, he was there, standing, waiting for me to turn, and I handed out the heavy piece of silver. His jaw dropped as he carefully took it in his hands, examining it. It was rare, I knew for a fact that this must’ve been the last surviving, preserved badge of the past, and it was something I could trust him to keep, something I could trust him not to barter. I earned it the honest way, through helping the current Colonel with intelligence work as he prepped for retirement. The United States Armed forces was a huge organization, comprised of the army, military, coastguard, national guard, marines, air force, you name it, all under the direct rule of our President. I had dabbled in every branch at least once, trying to pull myself out of my unit, trying to show them I belonged in a different position, perhaps one where I could control how Chinese citizens were treated in response to the uneasiness of war on the brink, and my hard work had earned me that badge, they saw and heard me loud and clear, but my unit kept me locked down, kept me in my oppressive position, and although I knew the entirety of the United States Armed Forces to be bad, there were still some branches who genuinely wanted to help, branches I was hoping to be relocated to, if not promoted eventually to Major General, organizing peace at home to unite the nation instead of divide it. But I was hearing hints of promotion all across with my superiors, who appreciated the good I did do before the war. 

“Betty,” he began, but words seemed to fail him as he examined the crest. He hesitated, he looked up at me. “Are you sure?”

“The past is the past, you’re all that matters to me now, and I trust you to keep that safe,” I smiled. He pulled me into another passionate his, his hands on my hips after placing the badge in his pocket, leaning my head on his shoulder. This was home. This was safe.


	22. Nabbed

I was leaning against my house, talking to Piper, cigarette in between her hand as she waved it in the air. “—So I told McDonough he was going to have to forcibly pick me up and throw me out if he wanted to get rid of me. I’m not leaving Diamond City, not in his hands.” She was heated, taking a drag after a long explanation on why exactly she had beef with the mayor. 

Honestly, I was impressed. She had a strong code of ethics, and a strong moral compass. Although, I didn’t much agree with how judgmental and nosey she was. If she learned about me, I’d surely expect to be guilted into an interview with her. 

“Stick it to the man, Piper,” I said with a smirk. “That’s the only way you’ll make change happen in a corrupt society.” I should know. 

She grinned, inspecting my face curiously. “Eventually, little Blue, I’m gonna get a story out of you.”

I was about to reply, but I was cut off by the sound of power armor whirring as the ground shook, I turned to look in the direction of the noise to find Paladin Danse running up to Piper and I. I wasn’t expecting him to stop running once he reached me, his eyes fixated on me with his helm off and in his arms. 

“Knight Jett, you’re requested on the Prydwen.” He had a serious expression on his face, which was enough to make me a bit worried. 

“Whatever I’m in trouble for, I wasn’t aware I personally pissed off The Brotherhood,” I said honestly. Perhaps I accidentally killed a soldier on my travels, or perhaps I stole a haptic drive they needed.

Piper looked humored, Danse looked confused. “You’re not in trouble, Jett.”

“Why would you think you were in trouble?” Piper mused, a playful smile on her face as she flicked her cigarette, it flickered as ash fell from it, floating through the air on its inevitable journey to the ground. 

“Why do you think?” I humored her, shrugging casually. “I _am_ trouble.” Apparently not to The Brotherhood of Steel. I pulled myself from where I was. No harm in leaving Sanctuary for a mini adventure. Chances were that MacCready wouldn’t want to come on this adventure with me, but seeing how we’ve been so chummy after our conversation, I had a feeling he’d want to stick by me. “Let me go get MacCready.” 

Piper pursed her lips, her eyes bright with curiosity. “If Paladin Danse is taking you, why would you need another companion to go with you?”

“Surely, I can take care of whatever problems you think we may stumble across,” Danse assured. I hesitated. If I pressed any further, they’d start asking questions, and MacCready and I were still planning on keeping things under wraps. I hesitated. 

“Okay, then let’s go tell Nora we’re going,” I said, hoping MacCready would be somewhere around her so I could also say goodbye to him. Sadly, with Danse following me and Piper even tagging along to talk to Blue, there was little room for secret conversation between MacCready and I, and I had to deal with the fact that I’d be going on my first mission without him. Instead, I was going with Danse.

We walked down the littered road of Sanctuary, walking over the overgrown bundles of grass that lifted the edges of the sidewalk after years without proper maintenance, until we found Nora building what looked like a guard tower, lined with all of the turrets I had made. I smiled proudly at the display. “I made those turrets,” I said to Danse, who, out of the corner of my eye, looked genuinely impressed.

“Looks like your military training and expertise will help us all.” 

That was an interesting way of putting it, but yeah, I suppose it’d help all of us here at Sanctuary, at least. I didn’t question his wording, instead, I shrugged, but I didn’t respond to that, I just took it as a compliment. We were two feet away from Nora, who was hunched over some scribbled list. MacCready suddenly came into view, digging through the red workshop before walking to Nora, holding a few pieces of metal. “Here’s the worthless crap you asked for,” MacCready said with a roll of the eyes, but when his eyes landed on me, he grinned. “There you are, almost thought you forgot about me. We hitting the road, boss?” He looked desperate to leave, which quite honestly made me a bit sad, as I’d have to leave him behind. 

“Actually, Danse just informed me that The Brotherhood needs me for some odd reason, so,” I shrugged. “Danse told me he’s going to bring me along to the Prydwen.” 

I watched as MacCready tensed, his narrowed eyes inspecting Danse as he folded his arms across his chest. If he made a scene and showed just how jealous he was that I was taking someone else instead of him, he’d blow our cover, but I could tell he was having a hard time, as he stared at Danse as if he was some cretin. I knew he had his own personal experience with The Brotherhood, how they practically invaded The Capital Wasteland, and now they were invading The Commonwealth, but perhaps he was wrong, and it was for the greater good. I couldn’t just judge by his opinion alone, although his opinion was just about one of the only ones I trusted in the first place. I just wanted to see for myself, whether or not I had just made a huge mistake.

“Keep her safe, Danse,” Nora said as she flashed a smile our way.

“Keep an eye out,” MacCready added, pointing his thumb in my direction. “This one doesn’t watch where she’s walking, I’ve had to disarm a few mines before they blew us to bits.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. My job as an MP didn’t entirely need me so stealthy, but I could outrun him in a heartbeat. I was a trained soldier in the armed forces, after all. “Your warning is noted, but from what I hear, Jett can do quite some significant damage to her enemies.”  

My brows furrowed together, the corner of my mouth twitched as I turned to look at him now. “Brotherhood speak of me often?” I asked. Surely, MacCready hadn’t seen me much in a firefight, and Nora hadn’t seen me under direct, deadly fire, either. Actually, the only real times I’d gotten the opportunity around either of them, they handled themselves enough to take half of the team down, and were preoccupied in their own attacks to notice mine.

Danse hesitated, he turned to me and cleared his throat. “That’s classified.”

So, yes. I felt an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I was wildly uncomfortable. He knew things about me, information on my personal life I didn’t want to get out of hand. I was praying that wasn’t the case.

I hesitated as Nora exchanged a few glances with both Danse and MacCready. She seemed equally as uncomfortable with Danse’s words as I did. MacCready looked worried for me, his eyes only left my face when he was caught staring by Nora or Danse, but after the shifty moment of silent glances, I reloaded my Overseer’s Guardian and walked towards the weapons shop in Sanctuary. “Easy livin’ this ain’t,” they said with a sigh in a thick Boston accent, but I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Sometimes, how ungrateful these settlers were was enough to piss me off, looking at the woman in the shaded building with a ceiling fan with a light bulb directly over her head as she cleaned the countertop for at least the hundredth time that day. I had slaved for hours over those turrets, Nora had worked herself to the bone in the garden, built just about every house, every bed, every ceiling fan for hot nights and every makeshift window to prevent stuffiness in homes, small luxuries to necessities they all didn’t have when they were wandering the wasteland, and they still complained. Give a man an inch, he’ll ask for a mile. This settlement was a thousand times better than anything else in The Commonwealth, an actual sanctuary and safe haven, but they always found something to complain about. 

“What do you have in stock?” I asked.

“Here’s what I have.”

I purchased 297 rounds of .308 ammo, as my Overseer’s Guardian was finally fully upgraded before turning around to come face to face with MacCready. I looked around him to find Danse helping Nora lift a steel bar up higher, as he was stronger and taller since he was wearing power armor. 

He brought me away from the vendor before looking into my eyes, whispering lowly to me, making sure no one heard us. “You’re going with that guy?” he asked, I could hear the offence in his voice. “I was hoping we could spend more time together.” His voice was genuine, and I blushed at his words, he genuinely had wanted to spend some time with me. Especially after our conversation last night.

“Stop,” I groaned. “Now I want to tell Elder Maxson to fuck off.”

He snickered at my comment. “Well, you really wanted to do this, so go. Just make sure ol’ ironsides over there doesn’t try to swindle you into doing too much for that circus,” he spoke with a roll of the eyes. He scoffed.

God, The Brotherhood of Steel’s timing could not have been worse. I just wanted to spend time with the man I had confided my trust in last night, the person who deserved my affection the most. “I’m going to make my own decision,” I began, but hesitated. “But, thank you for looking out for me.” It was surely going to take some getting used to the idea that MacCready was looking out for me, something people seldom did with me, but I didn’t want to push him away with my bad attitude, and I wanted him to know I appreciated his fair warning. 

He smiled at my politeness, his eyes gleaming. “Wow, so, we’re going to be nice to each other now?” He joked with a soft laugh. “Well, this is refreshing.”

I bit my lip. I really wanted to kiss him right now. “Yeah, well, if you accept me for all that I am, I might as well show you some gratitude.” 

His expression was serious now, yet his eyes were gentle, soft, understanding. “Well, of course I do, Betty. You’re you.”

I felt my heart flutter, but before I could say anything, the sound of power armor and the shaking of the ground caused me to look up. MacCready nearly fell over at the sudden shift, but I was used to running around in power armor and being around folks who wore power armor from prior experience, so it didn’t faze me. I grinned at his sudden loss of balance, something I actually had never seen happen, but he was genuinely caught off guard, and it looked like he suddenly remembered we weren’t alone, but in public, in the shop warehouse in Sanctuary.

“Ready to move out?” Paladin Danse asked once we locked eyes.

“Ready.” I spoke with a nod, turning to give MacCready one silent, soulful look, he frowned, but before I could walk away, he grabbed me by the forearm, gently. I stopped walking and turned to look at him. Had he been anyone else, I would have yanked my arm right out of his grasp, but this was MacCready.

“You be careful out there, alright?” He spoke sternly, his eyes searching mine. “I know you can handle your own, and I know you’re trained for these types of situations, but. . . Look out, okay? Sometimes things happen so fast, and--I. . . “ He looked at Danse now, who was standing right next to us, watching us converse. He rolled his eyes and scoffed, turning to look at me with an irritated look, but I knew it was just to veil his feelings for me in front of the tall, armored man. “I need to make caps, and if you get yourself killed, I’m out of a job. Alright?” He spoke. “Now get lost, leadfoot.” 

I bit back a smirk. “Aw,” I pouted. “My little, dark heart is overflowing with joy,” I sighed, placing my cupped hands over my heart with a mock sigh. “Wow, I feel so loved.”

“Are we done mocking each other now?” Danse grunted. “Elder Maxson is expecting us.”

“Well, let me just head on out of here then,” I spoke with an eye roll. 

I didn’t care if he was the President of the United States, I wasn’t to be ordered about like a slave. If anything, I’d be going there because he asked to meet me, and I needed to know who The Brotherhood was, what they stood for, and why Elder wanted to talk to me so damn bad that he sent Danse here.

“Let’s go, Jett. Go grab your power armor.” 

My power armor. Right. I wordlessly walked away from him and to my house, opening the door of the makeshift closet I had made, grabbing a fusion core from the toolbox next to the armor, pressing the core into the slot, twisting the wheel to open the power armor for me to hop inside. I pulled myself into the armor, as it clicked shut around me. 

Here I was, Betty the Officer, reporting for duty, but this time, I was Betty the Brotherhood Knight. I walked out of my house as Danse looked at me approvingly before we began to head out. I kept my helm on, choosing to hide my face behind this mask. I had to be on my best behavior this time, and that was a challenge within itself. 

We were off now, to the Prydwen, the big blimp in the sky. 

\--

Surprisingly, Danse could keep up with me, as we ran through the Wasteland. Normally, we’d have to take a break right now so MacCready could catch his breath, but Danse’s training seemed to be similar to my own, as our fighting mannerisms were pretty much the same, coming into places guns ablazing, tearing down the enemy, hell raising. It was a nice, pleasant change, but I still missed my stealthy partner nonetheless. Fighting in power armor, though, was a brand new thrill. We had never actually fought in our power armor, these suits had never seen battle, just used to keep the peace in Boston before the bombs dropped, and now. . . 

I jumped off of the overpass Danse and I were standing on as enemies swarmed around us, Gunners, we had incapacitated all the ones on the highway in mere minutes, their laser weapons no match for Danse’s or my own, but still, I picked up a plasma pistol. Reminded me of the good ol’ days.

As I jumped off of the overpass, the weight of my power armor increased my speed towards the long, very far drop to the ground, must have been at least thirty feet high, as I landed in the middle of the last remaining enemies, causing them to fall from impact, the ground shook around me as I pulled my gun out, shooting the enemies around me one by one until they were all dead.

Damned Gunners. I turned to see Danse, who had landed a little bit after me, upon seeing my jump, but instead of getting upset with me, he had his helm on, his eyebrows raised high, his eyes wide as he looked at me with pure awe. “Outstanding work, soldier.”

I gave him a cocky grin. “You’re not half bad yourself. Would have made a fine soldier, back in my day.”

This was a compliment well received, hell, maybe overly-well received, as he seemed avidly flustered, almost timid and confused as he stammered, “T-thank you, that. . . Means a lot. Do you need to rest before we trudge on?”

I laughed at his question, shaking my head. “No. Let’s get this show on the road.”

\--

“Why didn’t you find The Brotherhood sooner?” Danse suddenly asked me after an hour of walking and brief chit chat on the scenery we walked through. This question was bound to come up sooner or later, I just wasn’t sure how honest I could be with someone so loyal to the cause. 

I was trying to find the right words to say, and after a moment of deep thought, I spoke. “After the things I saw in the Armed Forces, the corruption, the innocent lives seized and tortured, it just became too much for me. It wasn’t a cause I wanted to rush to find, it would have reminded me so much of the things I was trying to run from.”

“And you finally stopped running?” Danse asked.

I bit my lip. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Danse. All I wanted to do before the war was help people, but out here. . . .” I felt that crushing reality come storming back. “Helping people. . .Also means hurting other people. . .And last time, I thought I was putting my will and dedication into something that’d help the world, something noble, but then, I was stuck in a soul-sucking, moral-breaking hell. And I couldn’t escape.” 

He, of course, had some bias insight. “Well, soldier, you chose well, because The Brotherhood is righteous justice, we are helping people of The Commonwealth. We didn’t approve of all pre-war Military operations, we believe in the loyalty to each other and using technology in the purpose of rescaping The Commonwealth into a place everyone can live in peace.” 

“Yeah, except for ghouls and escaped synths, right?” I questioned a little hasrsher than intended, and he stopped walking to turn to look at me, inspecting my face. I shook my head, putting my hand on my head. “Its hard for me to work in an organization so familiar, without feeling like I’m working with enemies.” 

He seemed stuck between scolding me for believing ghouls and synths were people, and reassuring me of his cause, but I could tell the humanity in him chose the second option, but had my skin been different, I knew his words would not be so kind, so I simply swatted my hand in the air. “Never mind I said anything,” I spoke. MacCready may have had a misunderstanding with Synths, but that didn’t mean he approved of The Brotherhood’s cold attitude towards them, their willingness to slaughter people who were not born of a womb. 

I didn’t trust this man’s ideals, but I trusted his loyalty to this organization, and knew he’d protect me with his life: Up until The Brotherhood took one step too far, and that blimp fell from the sky in flames. I wouldn’t make the same mistake last time, and allow corruption to harm the innocence. I’d be a superhero. Like The Silver Shroud. 

“Ferals, watch out!” A feral suddenly jumped at me, knocking me back, its arms clawing at my power armor. I punched it in the head, standing up, shooting it once in the head to stop it from tearing through, but suddenly, out of nowhere, five came out, then three, then a hoard, and it was nothing but the sound of Danse’s laser rifle, and my Overseer’s Guardian echoing through the sky as they swarmed me, pinning me down, one tore through my chest piece, and I felt a searing pain in my stomach. I gasped as it continued trying to tear through me, but Danse rushed forward throwing them off of me before shooting them one by one.

“God dammit, I have to repair this thing now,” I sighed once the enemies were finally dead, and it was just him and I now.

“Are you okay?!” Danse asked, quickly kneeling down next to me as he rummaged through a bag with a red plus sign on it. 

“No,” I answered calmly. From what I could tell, the feral had ripped open my skin, and this mission was over. I’d have to get some medical attention within the next few hours, or I’d get a nasty infection. 

Danse inspected my wound now. “We have to get you to a Doctor.” He injected me with a Stimpak, taking a cloth out to help stop the bleeding. 

“Yeah,” I said with a soft sigh. “This shock is sublime, I can’t even feel the pain.”

He let out a curse as he stood up. “Well, looks like we have no other choice.” He threw what looked like a smoke grenade, and when it landed, I realized it was indeed a smoke grenade, but it was a signal smoke grenade, red smoke wafting into the air. 

I groaned now. “Really? Come on. Making someone come rescue me?” If I didn’t feel pathetic enough as it was. God, MacCready would be livid with Danse if he knew my current predicament. 

“Would you rather die than be rescued?” He asked now, his voice hard and stern as he looked at me like I was insane. 

“We could have just walked the same way we came, gotten a quick check from Curie, then gone back. No biggie.”

“No biggie? We just walked for four hours, Jett! You can’t wait for hours, and you certainly can’t walk!” He was beyond flabbergasted, but before I could make some smartass comment, he lifted the towel he was pressing on me, which was completely covered in blood. Suddenly, the realization hit me, the shock subsided and I felt the stinging pain of my ripped flesh. I started gasping, gripping my hand tight. “We can’t get you out of that power armor, Jett. We can’t lift you up. We need Vertibird transportation.”

I started sweating pretty hard now, trying to cope with the pain, but god. I tried sitting up now to look at the injury, but Danse quickly stopped me. “Is it really that bad?” I asked him, I started to get dizzy now, my breathing labored as I let my head fall back. “Fuck.”

I heard the sound of the vertibird as it neared, but my vision started fading until finally, darkness.

\--

When I came to, I was most definitely in The Prydwen, I could tell by just looking at the ceiling. I groaned and turned my head to look at a man with shaved, greying hair and stubble on the lower half of his face. I had seen him briefly, and knew he was the Medical Officer of this place. “Well,” he started. “This is definitely not how I wanted your first exam to go. I’m Knight-Captain Cade, the medical officer of the Prydwen. And you’re Betty Jett, the local legend.”

I snorted. I moved my hands now, lifting them up to look at them. I saw they had somehow gotten me out of my power armor, dented and caved in by the swarm, and when I looked at my stomach from my propped up, laying position on the gurney, my stomach was wrapped in bandages, and I was in just my bra. 

Wonderful. I loved waking up from just having been unconscious, whilst half-naked. Great. “Do all local legends fail miserably to incapacitate a group of just ten ferals?” 

He frowned. “I heard when the Vertibird arrived, there were at least thirty to forty ghoul bodies lying slain.” He picked up a folded pile of clothes and placed it on the table next to me. “Your shirt was torn to bits, but your pants remain in tact. We just have nothing but Brotherhood Fatigues, so you’re going to have to wear this for now,” He pointed at the top clothing of the stack. It was a black outfit and not one of those orange ones. I could not pull off orange. 

“Thanks,” I spoke, sitting up with a wince, my body stiffening.

“Yeah, you might want to take it easy, for some reason your body’s reparative rate is a bit faster than that of a normal person’s, but you’re still not supposed to be making such quick movements. You have a few stitches, but they’re dissolvable. I put some cream in your bag to make sure that doesn’t get infected.” Ah, gotta love advanced technology. Get ripped open by irradiated humans, get to walk away with just stitches hours later. 

I frowned. Faster reparative rate? I stood up from the bed now, slowly, with just my undergarments on, but if Cade had already seen me in these, no shame now. I grabbed the fatigues and pulled them on, surprised that I actually loved how I looked in them. They were tight like the Vault suit, but weren’t too revealing of the body. And man, was it comfortable. It came with black gloves too.

This would be my new outfit, for sure. Thank you ferals, for ripping up the road leathers. But fuck you, for ripping up my stomach.

“Well, I shouldn’t keep Elder Maxson waiting,” I said, grabbing my bag carefully, strapping it on one shoulder. God, this hurt. “See ya, and thanks again.”

“No problem, Knight. You’re a hero to many of the folks aboard this ship, so you’ll always find help here.” He nodded and picked up his clipboard as he began jotting things down. I turned to leave now, turning left and walking down the hallway into the room with the bar, various BOS members walking around and hanging out. I found Danse talking to a female in a red and brown scribe fatigue armor. She wore goggles on her head on top of a cap, but I could tell by the color of her eyebrows that she was a redhead. 

Danse turned to me as I approached. “Good, you’re alright.” He paused, his eyes looking at my stomach now as if I’d have anything to show for the wound underneath my clothes. He met my eyes again. “Elder Maxson has been waiting. Your power armor is in Bay 3, Proctor Ingram repaired it for you. Hop in it and meet me at the Command Deck.” He started to walk away, and I got the feeling he was a bit. . .Robotic.

I walked to my power armor in bay three, pushing the fusion core in, but when I went to turn the wheel, a shooting pain in my stomach stopped me, making me gasp. “Shit, shit shit,” I spoke, tenderly touching the wound. I looked at the power armor angrily, folding my arms over my chest. No way I was gonna ask for help, so how was I gonna get this thing open?

“Need my help, little lady?” The deep voice of a Star Paladin spoke as he walked by me, stopping to inspect my weak form.

“Oh, my stars, I’ve been waiting all day for a man to do everything for me,” I drawled in a false Southern accent. “Why, I’m just a lil’ lady.”

The Star Paladin chuckled. “You’re a smartass, ain’t ya?”

“Just a little bit,” I huffed, inspecting the wheel, my hand placed on my stomach with a wince again. “Just a little sore from some ferals.”

He walked towards me now, looking me up and down with a confused expression. “I haven’t seen you here before. Are you new?”

I grinned. “New to The Brotherhood, yeah.”

“Why would you be getting into this armor?” he asked, pointing at it. “This is Betty—Oh.” He reached for the wheel on the back of my power armor, turning it as it popped open with a hiss. I stepped inside the suit, leaning into it instead of pulling myself into it, before it clicked shut behind me. I turned to him now in my green suit of power armor. “I am so sorry ma’am, I guess I didn’t recognize you.”

I let it go, just waving my hand in the air wordlessly before giving him a lazy-thumbs up and walking towards the Command Deck, earning several salutes on the way there. Ugh, gag me. 

Once I arrived at the Command Deck, I saw Elder Maxson and Danse speaking to each other, they were the only two people in the room, and at the sound of my walking, they turned to me. I took off my helm and walked up to the two men, shocked at how strangely attractive I found both of them. They were good looking men, just not at all my type. “I see you’re doing better after your run-in with ferals,” Elder Maxson spoke, he turned to face me. “I was going to ask you to begin with leading some basic armed forces training workshops for me, taking them to clear out a few locations, and ask you about Military Base Aurora’s secret security codes to gain access to their more advanced technology. We have had little luck cracking all of those codes.”

I hesitated. “Well, I don’t have the codes,” I lied. I wasn’t going to let Maxson know about all the gear in there, I was going to tell Nora, to help her build Minutemen defenses all around The Commowealth with them, to gear up all of our troops and make them stronger. “That security system changes its password every month.”

Maxson studied my face, as to tell whether or not I was lying. “Are you sure, Knight?”

“Well, two hundred years has many, many months sir, so I apologize, but I cannot guess what the password is now.” I kept a straight face, staring at him as he stared back at me.

“Okay, Knight, then for now, we will send you home via Vertibird. I expect you to come back once you’ve recovered and perform your duty. Dismissed.” He turned to look outside of the window now, as Danse and I walked toward the elevator to get to the deck where the Vertibirds were always parked. 

“It’s a shame you don’t know those passwords,” Danse spoke. “We could have really used them.”

“Yeah,” I spoke, stepping into the Vertibird, sitting down as I placed my helm on. “Shame.”


	23. Cat out of the Bag

The pilot landed the Vertibird on the only collapsed house that didn’t have a new house build on top of its pre-war foundation, and by the time we landed, Nora and MacCready were waiting for us to hop on out. They were obviously genuinely confused that we got a lift home, as that wasn’t a normal thing. I never saw Nora get a lift home after Brotherhood missions. 

I stepped out of the Vertibird and walked passed them and towards my house. I had to take this fucking power armor off, my stitches were mighty uncomfortable when I wore this. Once the power armor was off and back in my closet, I walked inside my living room to find Nora sitting on my couch, and MacCready leaning against the wall. Then Piper, Cait, and Deacon followed suit.

“Great, a welcome home party.” I spoke sarcastically as Danse also walked in, making for a full living room. I sat on the other couch, across from Nora, leaning back into my seat with a wince. 

“Why did you get an airlift home, Little Blue?” Piper asked, her brows furrowed together she frowned. “Did you get hurt out there?”

“We ran into a pack of ferals. There were about thirty or forty of them, apparently, I’m not sure where they came from or how bad my luck must have been but they had me surrounded, they destroyed the chest plate of my power armor and ripped into my stomach—“ 

“ _What_ happened?” MacCready spoke from where he stood, and I turned to look behind me, at the wall he was leaning against. He looked like he had just seen a ghost, standing up straight now. He turned to Danse angrily. “How could you let that happen?”

Everyone fell silent now, staring at MacCready in shock.

“Hey,” I spoke defensively. “That wasn’t his fault,” He was freaking out, panicking, he seemed to be having a panic attack as he leaned against the couch, he was standing very close to me now. He was scared, he could have lost me in the same way he lost Lucy. I knew why he was having a hard time processing this, but he wasn’t doing a good job of being discreet about us.

“Ferals, _God_ ,” he finally spoke. “This wouldn’t have happened if I went with you!” He snapped now, looking down at me. I stood up and turned to look at him now. 

My blood was boiling. I didn’t need him to save my life, I could save it, myself. “Excuse me, I can handle myself.”

“Well, on the off chance you can’t, and you get swarmed, like this time, you might not make it, and—“

“You could have died, had you come with us, you don’t have any power armor!”

“I don’t care, the point is, you almost died, and I could have helped you fend them off, Betty!”

“Why are you acting like such an ass? I went, I survived, I’m home, and you’re yelling at me? I’m alive, I’m well, I handled it. I just can’t do much this week besides lounge around.” I folded my arms across my chest. 

“Because I’m not having another person I love die if I could’ve stopped it,” he spoke sadly, his voice breaking as he looked at me. “Betty, I—I can’t lose you.” 

I heard Piper exhale loudly as just about everyone in the room seemed to understand that MacCready and I didn’t exactly hate each other.

“Whaaaat?” I heard Deacon say with a fake gasp. “The plot thickens!”

“Everyone, get out!” I shouted, throwing my hand up. “Just me and MacCready. Out!”

“Wow, you two _are_ bangin’? That’s somethin’ I’d like ta join in on.” Cait reminded with a stick of her tongue as she walked out, her thick Irish accent sounded somewhat thicker as she spoke these words. Piper rolled her eyes and pushed Cait out gently by pressing onto her back, she walked out and left MacCready and I alone.

I was about to yell at him for making a fool out of me, for thinking I’d need someone around as if he didn’t recognize my ability to kick ass, but I saw his bottom lip begin to quiver, his hands slid across his face to cover his eyes as he shakily sat on the couch. “First Lucy, and now, almost you. Damned ferals, they just sneak up on you. . . “

I sat on the couch next to him, curling up against him as I moved his face so he was looking at me. Tears were in his eyes as he looked at me, and he looked so scared, so fragile, I just pulled him into my arms and held him against my chest, his hand gently resting on my fragile stomach as he cried into my chest. I had no idea how traumatic losing Lucy that way was, something he had watched right before his eyes, something he was probably reliving over and over and over again at this very moment, imagining what would have happened to me if they did manage to kill me, how they would have torn me apart. . . 

“I’m safe, I’m here, and I’m with you now,” I spoke, my hand knocking off his hat to run my fingers through his hair, I placed a kiss on the top of his head. I’d never comforted someone before, not like this, but it was a new feeling, comforting someone who was afraid they’d almost lost you. I didn’t want him to collapse like this again, to feel the way he felt now, knowing I was hurt and he wasn’t there to help me. Even the strongest people were knocked down sooner or later. It wasn’t because he thought I was weak, it was simply because he cared about me.

“I love you, Betty.”

I froze, blinking before I looked down at him. Did I just hear him right? Did he just tell me he loved me?

“Wh-What?” I stammered, I wasn’t going to say it back unless I knew for sure he had definitely said those three words I’d never heard someone tell me and mean.

“I said I love you, Betty,” He repeated louder, he looked up at me now, his blue eyes, behind the sliver of liquid that threatened to fall from his lower lids. “I plan on walking this Earth with you until the day I die, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let anything bad happen to you.” 

His words caused my heart beat so hard I swore he could hear it, I let out a breath as I felt butterflies in my stomach. He loved me. He loved me. 

“I love you, too, RJ,” I replied, his lips met mine, pulling me into one of his show-stopping kisses, his rough lips caressing my soft ones, his tongue sliding into my mouth as he upped the passion, but of course, we were cut off by the clear of a throat. We both looked up to find Piper, Cait, and Nora standing in the doorway, Nora with a curiously raised eyebrow, Piper with a livid expression on her face, and Cait, who was wriggling her eyebrows. 

“We’re closed,” I spoke as I waved my hand for them to leave, causing RJ to laugh at this. 

“Okay, smartass,” Nora rolled her eyes, but I could see she was more amused than bothered. “You two just, er. . . Be safe.”

“Yikes, Nora, please,” I whined, throwing my head into my hands as I turned tato red.

“Okay, okay,” she spoke with raised hands. “Sorry, we’ll leave.” They all gave me specific looks as they left: Piper gave me a look of disapproval, Cait, a thumbs-up and shit-eating grin, and Nora, with a wildly confused expression as she walked out. 

“We have to find a way to lock that door,” I joked as RJ placed another kiss on my forehead.


	24. Military Base Aurora

Everyone was currently sitting around a bonfire: Nora, Danse, Deacon, Piper, Preston, Curie, Cait, and even Hancock was here.

I had been back for a day, and MacCready and I had chosen to spend all day in bed, but when Nora invited us, we decided to hang out with her and the rest of the folks for the first time since we’d revealed we’d been involved with each other. 

Nora wanted to throw a get together after she finally got into the Institute, and apparently when she scanned the network with the help of Sturges, she had to give that information to The Brotherhood. They had found out Danse was a synth, and somehow, Nora managed to convince Elder Maxson to spare Danse’s life, but Danse’s career, all he strived for, it was over, just because he was a synth. 

Danse had no idea he was a synth, like many other synths he was programmed with fake memories of his youth, and now, he was robbed of the chance of a normal life.

Everything he loved was gone. He was no longer allowed near the Prydwen, near the soldiers, his old friends, his power armor had been taken, and I wasn’t sure whose hands it was in now. 

Everyone was trying to avoid that subject, as Mac and I were trying to avoid talking about our situation. So far, no one had brought either up, as MacCready and I sat next to each other. We weren’t touching or holding hands, we were trying to act normal, as to not send everyone into the conversation, the topic of ‘us’. 

No, thank you.

“So, Nora, did you ever check on Graygarden?” Preston spoke. 

“No,” She replied. “Hancock and I will stop by tomorrow.”

“Starlight Drive-in?”

“Yeah, yesterday.”

“Abernathy Farm?”

MacCready interjected now. “God, Preston, can you do anything _besides_ talk about Settlements? It’s all I hear out of you.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes, lighting a cigarette as Preston narrowed his eyes at him. He had obviously hit a nerve.

“Some of us like helping people, MacCready,” Preston shot back.

“Oh, yeah, good for you, Preston,” Cait spoke sarcastically. “We all care _so_ much.”

“I think what they are trying to say is they do not want to talk about this,” Curie stated. “I do not know why they are being so _rude_!”

“As a former member of The Brotherhood-” Danse started, but at this, everyone but Curie rolled their eyes and shook their heads. Danse still talked about The Brotherhood positively every fucking chance he got. Maxson apparently even referred to him as “it” and “thing” and “abomination” as Nora tried to persuade him not to end Danse’s life. And almost everyone on the Prydwen also talked shit on him, so him talking about the Brotherhood was uncomfortable beyond belief. Even Nora had placed her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes, exhausted by Danse’s rambling.

“Come on, Danse, give it up, will you?” Cait sighed. “Brotherhood kicked ye on yer arse, gotta brush it off and nut up.” 

Even _I_ put my head in my hands and groaned at her use of words.

MacCready loved that.

Deacon liked that. Probably because he didn’t exactly love The Brotherhood, or Danse, for that matter, but he probably wouldn’t have put it in such crass words. 

Piper disliked that.

Preston, Curie, and Danse hated that. 

“I beg your pardon,” Danse started in a fluster, but Nora put her hands up.

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” she spoke, she sounded like a mom there, but then again, she was one. I wasn’t sure what happened with her son, she hadn’t exactly told anyone what happened yet, but the way Hancock had been looking at her clued me in that something was. . . Different. They may have found Shaun, but things may have happened that made this situation harder. I wasn’t sure what, though.

I honestly felt amused watching everyone burn each other. It was hilarious, but it probably irritated Nora because of how much she cared about every companion on a personal level. We were all her best friends. 

No one had spoken since Nora had diffused the argument. I guess no one had anything nice to say, as we all looked at each other with pensive expressions. Nora rolled her eyes. “So, Betty, anything new?”

“Yeah, new things have happened since I updated you about everything yesterday night. In fact, within the hour, I’ve found a cure for cancer, and hey, I’ve stopped rad storms.”  My response had the reaction I hoped it would. She cracked a grin before she shook her head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw MacCready also crack a grin, and Deacon had let out a small chuckle. Cait snorted as well. 

The rest of the companions, the ones who weren’t also fellow smart asses rolled their eyes, besides Curie, who seemed confused at what was going on.  

“Smart ass,” Nora and Piper spoke at the same time, Piper muttering it while Nora said it endearingly. 

“Nothing new,” I spoke. I let out a yawn. “I’m pretty tired, though,” I admitted. 

“Well, before you go off to bed, I’m going to stop by Military Base Aurora tomorrow to grab those seven new unused Sentry Bots you told me about to send to stay in our settlements for added protection, and I was wondering if there’s anything special about that location. How is the security?”

I blinked now. “You will die if you step even a foot in there without me.” I said flatly. “Don’t go in there. Not only is it in The Glowing Sea, there are at least thirty Mr. Gutsy’s and four active Sentry Bots awaiting for military personnel and they’re programmed to fire at unidentified personnel. Meaning they will almost certainly kill you on sight. It’s where we would switch out our bots while our usual ones were repaired.” 

Paladin Danse had a comment for this. “Oh, I’m sure there’s a password they can use to get in, don’t overcomplicate things,” He spoke.

“If it was that simple, I would have given them a password. They use a retinal scan, and they have four layers of security,” I responded with a frown. “And on top of that, if you don’t talk like a pre-war American, they freak out. They read your words and analyze them.” 

Nora was staring at me now. “Betty, uhm, could you maybe. . . . Go with me? MacCready can come, too.” She asked slowly, steadily, wearily as if she was expecting to argue with me.

“I’m sure he’ll be comin’, too,” Cait joked under her breath.

I just stared at Nora with a blank expression, trying to find the right way to explain just how dangerous it was for anyone but me to walk in there. I was just stunned that this place sounded like a good idea to her. Even if we were to walk in there, they’d wonder who the hell Nora and MacCready were, meaning I’d have to go in there alone, bypass all of the security, deactivate the Mr. Gutsy’s with the main terminal which requires a top secret password I had no authorization to bypass, and hide as they all tried to kill me before shutting down, and that was if they had my records on file. The terminal was where our military base stored all of our digital information, we had containing all of our electronic records had at least five thousand names and jobs and titles and duties completed on there. That was a lot of information, and it had been two hundred years. What if the terminal was destroyed, or the Mr. Gutsy’s had a malfunction that prevented scanning that data properly? I tried to speak, but nothing came out, I just looked at her in pure disbelief. “There is a 60% chance that I would die if I went in there alone. If I went in with all of you, it’d be a 90% chance that we would die. The records they go off of to clear you is glitchy, if the terminal is still even functional, so if I tell them that you both are pending recruits, something that literally never happens, and I say the system is down, and they actually fucking believe me, we’ll be fine, but this is not a walk in the park. Then, we’d have to make sure every sentry bot is non-hostile. Knowing the military, they had them preprogrammed to kill enemies when the units are activated, which would mean again, I’d have to be the only one able to handle them, and it’d take me a few days to reconfigure them. Even then, I’m not that great with Military Bots. They could turn on the settlers if I’m not savvy enough. This is an impossible task.” It was an extremely dangerous mission. 

“I mean, you did give us a plan there,” Nora said. MacCready turned to look at her now with wide eyes.

“Nora, I think she knows what she’s talking about. Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” he spoke wearily.

“I can try to hack the first Mr. Gutsy I find and reprogram us as non-hostile so they have a better time believing you when you tell them we’re pending recruits.

“That bumps up our survival rate to 30%,” I spoke flatly. “You’re forgetting about what would happen if they have a crazy amount of security on them and take longer to hack. Which they do. Because they are Military bots.”

“Well, maybe we can load fake records onto a holotape to program onto the main terminal. We could ask The Brotherhood of Steel if they know how the files are sorted on there and the programming they used.”

“Even if we did that, we’d still have to go all the way to the top floor and hack into the terminal to shut them down so we could remove the sentry bots without the Mr. Gutsy’s killing us. But you have to be good at hacking. If you take longer than two minutes to hack, the systems will recognize the data breach and activate the two sentry bots behind the terminal, too. They’d kill all of us before we could do anything.” An idea came to mind. One I didn’t much like. I sighed. “My pre-war power armor is cleared for any military personnel, if one of you wears it, they won’t make you take your helmet off to scan you. No way you’d have that power armor on if you were a civilian. If only one of you is unidentified, it might make it easier to avoid the Mr. Gutsy’s killing us before we make it to the terminal. They’d trust two personnel a lot easier than just one.”

“One of us wears the power armor, and the other two wear hazmat suits underneath their fatigues, and will remove the helmets when we walk in,” Nora spoke thoughtfully, tapping her chin. “This plan will work. I know it will.”

“How do you talk pre-war American?” MacCready asked. “What the hell does that even mean?”

Nora and I exchanged glances. She pursed her lips, and turned to look at him. “Maybe you should uhm. . . Be in the power armor, and uh. . . Say nothing?”

“Yeah,” I spoke softly, patting MacCready on the leg. “Pre-war speech is a hell of a lot different from post-war speech.”

“Yeah, the dirty Wastelander would give it away, right?” he scoffed with a roll of the eyes. He took offense to the plan, probably believed we thought he was incompetent or not intelligent enough to make his way through there without fucking it up.

“Hey, no,” I spoke. I scooted my chair closer to his. “You made a promise to Duncan not to cuss, remember? This mission requires you to talk like a sailor. That wouldn’t feel right with me.”

I stood up from my chair. “You’re lucky you’re Nora. I’ll go with you both.” I said to her, and she blew me a kiss in response. I bit back a grin before leaning down to kiss MacCready on the cheek, an action that surprised him as it was around everyone.  It also made Preston, Danse and Piper frown. “The stimpaks really helped speed up the healing process, so I should be good to go. Not in perfect shape, but good enough.” I walked inside of the hut we used as a medical office, sitting down underneath the light to inspect my stitches to make sure everything looked good. They were almost completely dissolved, and I hadn’t felt much pain from them recently, they’ve just been uncomfortably itchy. 

It was late by the time I got home. I opened the door to my bedroom and tiptoed inside, closing the door behind me, but I didn’t see the piece of rug that had become bunched up, and crashed into the ground. 

The sound of my fall was followed by a chuckle. “Well, hello, clumsy angel,” MacCready’s sleepy voice spoke softly. “Hope you didn’t fall too hard from heaven.” 

I loved his cheesy lines, even if they _were_ positively awful. I crawled into bed with him and rest my head against his chest. He had a cigarette before bed, I could smell it on his clothes. His arm slipped around my waist, and I held him tight to me. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “Couldn’t sleep without you next to me. Was awake the whole time.” 

I tilted my head up and kissed him on the jaw. “You are so sweet. I love you.” 

He propped himself up on his elbow as his fingers tilted my chin up, his lips falling onto mine in a long, sweet kiss, his fingers gently stroking the curve of my cheekbone. “I love you, too, angel.” He lay back down, pulling me into him closer. “I’m glad I’m coming with the both of you.” 

I brushed my fingers along his facial hair, from his chin to the corner of his lips. My fingertips traced his lips. “I never want to leave your side. Now that I’ve found you, I never want to let go,” I spoke in a quiet voice. 

“Good,” he lovingly replied. He kissed the tips of my fingers. “I like you close to me.” 

—

I was awakened by the feeling of fingers moving down my hair, gently brushing it, as gentle kisses placed themselves my temple. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Mac whispered in my ear. 

“No,” I moaned, I buried my face in his duster, face pressing against his green long-sleeve. 

“Nora wants us to meet by the workshop in thirty minutes. Hopefully, we can find things to sell on this job.”

“Mac,” I murmured. “Shhh.”

He snickered. “Nuh uh. Get up.”

I pulled myself out of bed with a groan. “Fine.”

—

“Betty, you have to wear it,” Nora spoke as I stared at my old uniform. I hadn’t touched it since I left the Vault. I didn’t ever want to again. 

I took the fatigues from her hands, along with my boots and my cap. I wordlessly put them on over my hazmat suit, my tags in my pocket, boots laced in quick motions. I swung my long hair into an expert bun, and put on my cap. 

“Okay.” My raspy voice exhaled. 

—

We arrived to the Military Base after fighting an Alpha Deathclaw. Hilariously enough, it was no match for the three of us. “That’s how we do things around here!” MacCready had shouted once he landed the last, final bullet to the skull, causing Nora and I to flash each other smirks. 

Unsurprisingly, the base was in-tact. But it was clear that live for humans was unsustainable in the building. Not only was it deep in The Glowing Sea, it only held one crate worth of food the last time I had been there, and no hazmat or power armor suits. It was solely for robotics and repairs, and special operations. I’d come in here every now and then for special operations, and to have my robots repaired and scanned on gathered intel on our missions.

We walked in, and I pushed a button on the wall. A blue light presented itself, and I stood in front of it, keeping my eyes open as a soft light shone over my right one. 

“Confirmed access, identity confirmed: Officer Betty Jett, service number: 91275643.”

The doors opened, revealing a decontamination arch, which turned on as we walked through them and into the clean room. It sealed once we passed through the doors. Nora and I removed our hazmat helmets.

Time to play my part. Time to be a soldier once again. None of these robots would realize the war came and left long ago. None of them received updated information after the bombs dropped, none of the names on the terminal would come up “deceased,” the records would never change. It was a bit sad, knowing they were stuck in a fantasy, but this would make it easier to talk them down if they became suspicious. 

“Halt,” A Mr. Gutsy spoke, floating, approaching me. It had a white scratch on the top of it. “Betty. Welcome back, soldier.”

I squinted my eyes at him. “Dex? Is that you, you old fucking tin bag?”  

Both of my companions shifted their weight. They were obviously thrown at my impolite words. This was a curve ball. None of us took into account that my own bot would still be functional. I thought he was destroyed when my team went down. 

The Mr. Gutsy let out a laugh. “It really is you! Pleased to serve you again, ma’am. Honored. Who are these soldiers?” He asked, he was looking at Nora, in her military fatigues, and RJ in my military power armor. 

The other Mr. Gutsy’s floated around, never interacting with us because Dex had confirmed us all non-hostile. They seemed stuck in a loop.

“The systems have been down, if you’ve noticed, and these two sorry shitbags are the newest recruits,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. 

Dex’s eyes focused in and out. “Do you have a copy of your orders?” 

“The systems are down, Dex,” I scowled. “What makes you think I have that? Do I have to send you in for more repairs, or will you get it together?” I yelled. I hated doing this, but he would go hostile if I wasn’t the same person I was before.

“Apologies, ma’am. Go right ahead. God bless.” Dex moved out of my way now. “May you take commies down on your mission.” 

“Come on, Dex. America’s number one.” 

I saluted him before I walked with my friends to the back terminal. “I can’t believe that happened the way it did. We are incredibly lucky to be alive right now,” I spoke in surprise. Charisma 10. “Thought he went down with the rest of us.” 

Nora walked to the terminal as her fingers started typing, and I watched nervously, I took my gun out as MacCready guarded the door. I stood next to the two sentry bots, my gun tight in my hands. I kept my hands loose on my gun just in case they gave me an opportunity to rip out their fusion cores. We all kept quiet as Nora focused, and I could practically hear my heartbeat as the seconds felt like minutes. 

“I’m in,” she said suddenly as we heard the Mr. Gutsy’s panic in the other room as they received the order to deactivate, becoming hostile as they came for us. After MacCready and I took two of them down, the rest of them collapsed on the floor in heaps of steel. 

“Time to collect,” MacCready spoke now, taking the helm off now that the Gutsy’s were out. I removed my Military fatigues and undid my bun, removing my cap before placing them in my bag. I only wore my hazmat now. 

“That would have gone a whole lot worse, had I been terrible at charisma,” I humored. I wasn’t the smoothest talker around, but in this setting, I definitely was. 

“Got it from here?” Nora asked me. I was going to program the sentry bots to relocate and go into rest mode once they reached their destinations to remain dormant until I had the chance to reprogram all of them. 

“Yeah,” I spoke with a wrench in my hand as I assembled the sixth sentry bot. Assembling them was the easy part, it was all the internal mechanics that had me puzzled. It’d take me at least a few hours to reprogram one of them, but once I figured it out, it’d be easy to reprogram the rest. It would just suck to travel from settlement to settlement. Theoretically, I could get this all done here, but I wasn’t sure how the decontamination setting in the clean room would hold out. It ran off of a separate nuclear generator, the lifespan of which was unclear to me. 

“One sec, Nora,” MacCready spoke to her as he walked over to me. Nora smiled at us before she walked into another room. I looked up to him with a smile. 

He kissed me, his hand gently brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen onto my face, his hand grasping a loose handful of my hair as he cupped the base of my head before he pulled away. I gripped onto his duster, but he didn’t notice until he tried moving a little further away. “That was pretty hot.” 

I smiled at him and gently slapped his arm as I let go of his duster. “Get it together, Soldier,” I teased. “Or I’m gonna make you run some laps.”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am,” he joked as I bit my lip, taking his hand and walking with him to Nora, who just rolled her eyes with a grin.


	25. Institute Down, Part One

“Ready to go to sleep?” Mac asked me as we passed Red Rocket Truck Stop. I checked the time on my pip boy. It was 9:55PM. 

I was ready to just go the fuck to bed, and with a sigh, I started unloading all the junk I grabbed into the workshop. 

Some people were still awake. Sturges was sitting next to the power armor station against the wall as he sat on the floor. He was reading something quietly underneath the ceiling light I had installed there. This was the one of the most well-lit sections of Sanctuary.

There was a couch on the other side of the driveway, but Deacon had taken a nap on one side as Dogmeat sat on the other. 

“Ah, crap,” I sighed. “I left my bag by the Red Rocket Truck Sign. You go repair your gun and head to bed, I’m just gonna run over and grab it.” 

“Alright,” MacCready spoke, kissing my cheek before heading off to the weapons workbench. I ran over to the the road outside of Sanctuary, a few feet away from the barbed walls that surrounded the Red Rocket Truck Stop. I picked up my bag, and nearly jumped a foot in the air when I realized Hancock was standing there in the moonlight. “ _Jesus_ , Hancock,” I gasped, my hand on my heart. “Why the _hell_ are you all the way out here, scaring the shit out of me?”

“Just. . .Visiting,” he said with a smile and a shrug. “Thought I'd come and hang out in Sanctuary with Dogmeat, and Nora and all them.”

I grinned widely, biting my upper lip as I held back a laugh. He raised a curious non-existent eyebrow at my change of attitude. “Hah, _‘hanging out’_ with Nora? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” I snickered. 

He looked stunned before he let out a soft cough, then a gentle laugh. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, sister.” He held a smirk as he took another drag of his cigarette.  
I grinned before he walked off slowly, smoking his cigarette. I lay into the grass and sighed, looking up at the stars.

I walked back with him to Sanctuary, but we broke off when he went to Nora’s and I went to my house. I walked in the door, placing my bag by it before walking towards Mac, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, reading a Grognak the Barbarian Comic Book.

I pulled my hair out of my bun, pulling my hair out of the ponytail, my hair waving down my back. He let out a whistle, and I looked up to see his eyes on me now. “Don’t know what karma I cashed, but I definitely don’t deserve someone as good as you.”

I blushed. “You and your cute words,” I spoke, walking up to him, playing with his coat in my hands, pulling him into another kiss before pulling my face away, looking up at him. “So, Hancock and Nora are totally getting it on.”

His jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

I snickered. “Confronted Hancock about it. Deer in headlights. Smooth recovery, of course, smooth charismatic bastard,” I sighed. “But, if anyone’s with Nora, man am I glad it’s Hancock. Total sweetheart.” 

“You’re right,” He pushed my hair back behind my ear. “Speaking about totally getting it on,” he whispered in my ear. He pushed me up against the door, pulling my legs up so they were wrapped around his waist as he held a tighter grip on my hair than usual, his mouth hungrily claiming mine. 

His voice became gentle. “I’m a lucky man.”

I pushed his hat off of his head and tangled my hands in his hair as he grinded against me, and I moaned into his mouth as I felt his hard cock press against me. It had been far too long since I had my way with him, and I pushed my hips against his. He moaned, his mouth claiming my neck as he started biting and sucking at my skin. I was flushed now, letting out uncontrollable, small gasps and moans as his mouth found more sections of skin to attack, and the feeling of his mouth on me was incredible. He pushed me onto the bed now, crawling on top of me, pinning my hands above my head as he thrust himself against me again, moaning into my mouth during our sloppy kiss.

I studied his face, the shape of his jaw, the outline of his cheekbone, the neatly trimmed goatee that sometimes tickled me as we kissed. . . Those beautiful blue eyes, dialated, fixated on me. . “God,” I sighed. “You are so hot,” I breathed. He chuckled lightly, his cheeks tinting a soft pink. “That was my first thought when I saw you,” I said, stroking my fingers along his cheek bone. 

He smiled, he ran his fingers through my hair as he grinded against me once more, reminding me of that ache between my legs. I gasped as he reached down, his fingers slipping inside my pants and into my underwear, his fingers gently sliding around the area around my clit. I bit my lip as my breath hitched, watching him, the lust in his eyes. 

“Nora didn’t see you in the cryopod at first,” He spoke, his fingers brushing against my clit as I twitched underneath him, a small gasp leaving my mouth. His fingers began teasing me again. “But I saw you, and I told her you were in there. I’m glad I did.”

I kissed him at his confession. It was too sweet. “So _you’re_ the one who found me.” 

“Yeah,” He spoke, lowering himself down on me. His soft mouth kissed the scar on my thigh and I tensed before letting out a breath, relaxing. “I found you, and I’m never letting you go.” 

“Better not—Ah!” He had removed my pants and underwear already, his tongue silenced me now, licking around my clit teasingly. I hissed as he slid his tongue along it once. “F-fuck,” I gasped. 

His fingers dug into my hips now, holding me in place. “Always so sensitive,” he laughed, his breath tickling my most sensitive areas as he gently ran his fingers through my folds, sliding past them into my sex, sliding all the way in before stopping, kissing my sensitive nub. “Beg for me.” 

This was new. “RJ, please.” 

“Hmm. . . .”

“Robert fuckin Joseph MacCready, you get back to-Oooohokay,” I gasped as he started to envelop my clit with his tongue, the wet muscle causing me to lean back into the bed, I let out a moan. I was happy we fast travelled home for this, I wouldn’t be able to be this loud at Sanctuary. 

He pulled away again, making me cuss loudly. “Really, Miss Jett? _Language._ ” He teased. Once those words left his mouth, he began hungrily sliding his tongue to taste every section of me before his lip grazed against my clit, tongue attacking it as I graciously ran my fingers through his hair. 

He brought me a lot closer to the edge than I was expecting, his fingers began sliding in and out of me as I let out a soft gasp, I gripped onto the sheets as I let out a loud moan as I came, I couldn’t help but roll my hips forward as my back arched, his mouth cleaning up his reward from my spent body. 

He crawled back up to me before he lay next to me, pulling me into him. I frowned at him curiously. “Uh,” I frowned. “You don’t want anything?” 

“No,” he spoke, burying his head into my neck. “Well, yes, but I’m exhausted. Nora had me running everywhere all day.” 

I pushed him onto his back now. “Good thing you don’t have to lift a finger,” I spoke, I still needed him. I wanted to feel him inside of me. 

“Mmm,” he moaned happily as I pulled his pants off with his underwear, pushing him back onto the bed as I crawled on top of him, positioning him at my entrance, sliding down onto him. I let out a shaky moan as he gasped, I started to find a rhythm on him, holding his hands. 

“Betty,” he moaned, his hands gripping mine as he let go of my hands to hold my hips, helping me go faster before we both reached orgasm, gasping for air, our sweaty bodies collapsing upon each other.

—

This was the first morning where I was awake before MacCready. I was laying on my back in the middle of the bed, and his head was on my stomach, his arms wrapped around me tight. I knew how light of a sleeper he was, so I knew getting out of his grasp would most likely wake him up. 

I wanted to try to make him breakfast, though, so I began to slowly unwind myself from him, my actions as slow as a sloth’s. 

I had moved a mere centimeter, causing him to turn in the bed, removing my waist to lay on his stomach next to me. I slowly pulled myself off of the bed, crouching low to the ground, taking agonizingly long before placing each foot on the ground to walk. I made it to the front door now, which was only about three measly feet from the bed, and slowly turned the knob until I could turn it no more, slowly stepping out, keeping the knob twisted so it didn’t spin back loudly until I was slowly closing it behind me. It made an almost nonexistent noise as I slowly spun the knob back before removing my hand and backing away. 

Success! 

I walked into the kitchen and turned the stove on. Mirelurk eggs, razorgrain, milk and a mirelurk egg to make pancakes with bits of mutfruit on top while the coffee was made. I didn’t have any syrup, so I boiled mutfruit, honey and sugar to make a syrup of the same consistency. It tasted a bit like blueberry syrup, and I knew MacCready had no problems with the taste of mutfruit. . . I cracked a grin. He’d might have a problem with the Mirelurk eggs, unless I cooked it juuuust right. 

I poured cups of coffee, and I picked up a tray I had made with some pieces of wood leftover after Nora remodeled the place for us, and placed both plates of pancakes and eggs on and both cups of coffee before slowly opening our front door, slipping inside silently as I placed the tray on the table. I silently fist bumped in the air at my success at sneaking and balancing a ton of food. That could have gone so wrong so fast, had a made one slip. 

MacCready was still asleep on the bed. He was now curled up in the blankets facing me, his mouth slightly parted. He looked so peaceful, and so handsome. I grinned as I slowly walked over, placing a kiss on his cheek. “Wake up, RJ,” I whispered. He stirred now, his eyes opening as he turned to look up at me. 

He looked confused, smelling the air before he looked past me and at the dinner table. “Wow, I must have been out like a light if you did all of that without waking me up.” I lightly punched him in the arm and he laughed, taking my face in his hands before kissing me. “It looks amazing, angel. Thank you.” 

I blushed and excitedly pulled him to the table. He sat down with a yawn, looking at his plate, his eyes fixated on the pancakes. 

“Do you know what pancakes are?” I asked him now, my hand on my cheek. I hadn’t seen pancakes since I woke up from my two-hundred year sleep.

He began to cut a piece of it in awe. “Of course I know what pancakes are,” he spoke defensively, but began to hesitate before finishing his sentence.  “But, I’ve only seen ones that looked like these in pictures.” He took a bite now, a moan leaving his mouth as he leaned his head back. “Dang, these are good.”

I was so busy waiting for his reaction that I hadn’t even started eating, so I dug in, and realized I had just struck gold with a new recipe. I grinned excitedly, and MacCready tilted his head as if to ask me what I was smiling about. He took a sip of his coffee before taking another bite of mirelurk egg.

“I hope you like it,” I said nervously. 

“Are you kidding?” He spoke excitedly. “These are amazing!” 

When we finished breakfast, Mac insisted he’d wash the dishes, so he went and did that while I packed up our things. We were going to start readying up the Minutemen for The Institute. From what we already knew, Nora was going to allow us into the Institute using the Institute Relay, and we were going to rush in there and take down the synths while we followed her to the reactor room, where she’d place a fusion pulse charge on the reactor. We’d then watch the explosion from the top of Mass Fusion, if this all went successfully. All in all, it was going to be a rough day for Nora, and we were prepared to give her not only physical support, but emotional support.

\--

We found out that we couldn’t storm the Institute yet. Ronnie Shaw had contacted Nora, informing Nora that there were a few Institute synths patrolling the perimeter. We were going to visit The Castle to build our defenses just in case they struck before we did. 

RJ and I were already on our way when Nora ran up to us. “Hey, guys, mind if we join you?”

“We?” I questioned, turning to see no one else in sight, but after a moment, Hancock ran over.

“Sorry,” he laughed. “Jet really stunts me at first.” 

Nora rolled her eyes and snickered before she looked back at me, awaiting my response. “Yeah, of course you guys can come along,” I said with a smile, turning my head to look at MacCready, who was looking at Hancock excitedly.

“Hancock! Good to see you, buddy,” RJ said happily, a big smile on his face. “Been a while since we traveled together.”

Hancock smirked at him and laughed. “Hey MacCready. Hope this trip is as great as the last one.”

MacCready frowned before letting out a confused laugh. “Hancock, last time we traveled together, the jet you huffed was so strong you had confused a Brahmin with a person, and talked to them for three hours while I babysat you.” 

Hancock let out a chuckle. “Really? Wow, I don’t remember that.”

Nora and I were giggling to ourselves as we watched them interact. They were obviously really close friends, and both highly respected each other. Guy love. 

\--

“Want any chems?” Hancock asked me, but when MacCready gave me an uneasy look, I figured he wasn’t a big fan of drugs. I wasn’t entirely a big fan either, but I sure did like a Mentat here and there. 

I smiled. “I’ll take a mentat, please,” I said as MacCready gave me a look of disapproval before looking away. He’d have to just get over it. 

Hancock snickered before handing over one mentat. “I’m more of a mentats ghoul myself,” he commented in admiration. “Good taste in chems, sister.”

I ate the mentat, savoring the taste. Grape. Mmm. I ran my tongue along the grooves of my teeth to taste the last bit of crumpled chem in my mouth, and it felt as if I had suddenly grown a bit smarter. I smiled, I felt suddenly so confident. “Mmm.”

“That a good one?” Hancock questioned lowly in his rough ghoulish voice, enjoying one himself as Nora and MacCready had their own conversation. I couldn’t hear it, but by the way MacCready was acting, I could tell he was unhappy with Hancock and I’s little chem break.

I let it go, and decided to take the moment to talk to Hancock, as I suddenly noticed something on his hand. “What’s on your hand?” I asked him, and he threw me a wolfish grin as he held up his hand, wriggling his slim, wrinkled ghoul fingers to reveal the shiny, gleaming ring on his ring finger. “ _What?_ ” I gasped, as Nora stopped talking to MacCready as they both turned to us at my sudden outburst.

Nora saw my shocked face and Hancock’s raised hand and grinned. “Oh,” she spoke steadily before letting out a breathy, “Yeah.” She spoke with a small blush.

Hancock moved around MacCready to walk next to her, MacCready walking next to me again, Hancock entwining his fingers with Nora’s before giving her a soft kiss on her temple. It was a loving gesture, but Mac and I weren’t at the level where we could do things like that around other people comfortably yet. At least I wasn’t.

I reached for MacCready’s hand, my fingers touching his, but when he moved his hand away and flashed me a look of annoyance, I knew he was upset at me still. I pursed my lips, rolling my eyes, looking away uncomfortably as we walked through the Wasteland towards The Castle. 

I checked my pip boy, checking the distance. We were already passing by The Fens, Diamond City just a few miles from our location. We had just walked across The Wreck of the U.S.S. Riptide, which was a commissioned tug boat of the Navy. I looked at it for a moment, at the skeleton that lay inside of it, leaning my head forward to look at the button clipped to his tattered uniform. A faded pin of a thumbs up. 

“Oh,” I spoke with a shake of the head. “Oh, uh, I knew him,” I said sadly, pulling myself away from the view of the skeleton. I'd say hi to him every time I passed through here. He was a good guy. I knew him, the story behind that pin, but it didn’t matter anymore. Richard was dead, and just a memory of a time that was in the far, far past. 

MacCready’s hand found mine now, but I pulled my hand away from him. I didn’t want his attention after he rejected it the first time I tried to ask for it. I wasn’t an affectionate person when around others, so when I tried and failed, I was reluctant to try again. 

“I’m sorry, Betty,” Nora spoke softly, her hand reaching out to touch my shoulder, but I shrunk away. I felt too vulnerable to let anyone touch me right now. 

“No,” I spoke, shaking my head. “I’m okay.”

I didn’t want to talk about the fact that most of the skeletons scattered around The Commonwealth were soldiers I knew, people I saw every day, in Super Duper Mart, or while filling up my tank at a Red Rocket Truck Stop. Those days were gone, and they were far, far behind me. 

\--

When we arrived at The Castle, Nora gave us a quick tour—The quarters, beds with the Minutemen symbol on the sheets. The small shops at every little nook, the Minutemen General’s quarters—Nora’s Quarters—And the large tower in the center of The Castle—Radio Freedom, The Minutemen radio used to alert Minutemen of Settlements under attack, and to help navigate the cannonball defense system along the walls of The Castle that were still in-tact, and not crumbled. 

By the stairs to the right of the entrance of the Castle was a mini-garden. Lush mutfruit and crinkled tato vines, carrots, corn, all tended by a few Minutemen who had their laser muskets holstered as they worked. 

The Castle was beautiful, and I felt a pang of regret when I realized I could have been a part of this sooner, had I accepted The Minutemen sooner.

Well, it was time to redeem myself. I beamed at the Sentry bots that were ready for assembling and began working on them as Nora handled the turrets, MacCready nervously kept his distance from the giant green bot I was working on, removing its back plate to inspect its wiring.

“That thing isn’t gonna come alive and try to kill us, is it?” He asked sheepishly.

I held up the fusion core that I had yet to place inside the Sentry Bot. “No, that would be impossible without _this_ ,” I answered, not looking up from the interior in the bot as I saw some unplugged wires and some chewed wires. Damn. I looked into the box of Sentry parts Nora had gathered along the Wasteland and changed two of the wires. 

“Careful, these military bots have a mean temper when you tamper with ‘government property.’ I have the scars to prove it,” MacCready spoke. I had seen them before, they were along his lower back and upper left shoulder (Author’s Note: I know you see no scars on him if he is shirtless but I’m adding in that he has scars because he says this quote in game). 

“Don’t worry, RJ, I know what I’m doing,” I replied, but I was cut off when he bent down next to me and inspected what I was doing.

“Yeah, I’m lost,” He spoke, trying to figure out the mechanics of this giant bot. “But if you need help, I’ll, er. . . Try to. . . Manage.” He scratched his head now, his blue eyes studying the metal tin can as if he could try to pretend like he knew what it was he was looking at. 

I let out a small chuckle when I realized what he was doing. I turned to him now, removing my gloves to place a hand on his cheek. “Thank you,” I ran my finger along his cheekbone, and his eyes closed as I caressed his face. “You’re great.”

He smirked at this, his eyes opening before he pulled me into a kiss, his lips against mine, smoothly unwinding me with the movement of his lips, pulling away, his lips lingering near mine, yet not touching them deliberately, before he pulled away, exhaling. 

“Thoughts?” I questioned curiously, attempting to decipher the look in those stunning eyes of his. 

“Happy. For the first time in my life, I’m happy. Can you believe it?” he said lightly, joy bubbling in his words, elating my mood almost instantly as I felt that familiar burn of my cheeks. My heart was beating so fast I thought I was gonna pass out. 

“Really?” I questioned timidly, urging something more out of him. “Why?”

He chuckled, rolling his eyes in a playful, loving manner as he played with the long lock of hair that had come undone from my bun that I hadn’t fixed yet, twirling it in his finger. “Because of you,” he spoke reassuringly, his hand taking mine in his. “That’s why I don’t want you to take chems. . .” He hesitated, studying my face. I bit my lip, tilting my head down. “You have an addictive personality, Betty,” he squeezed my hand tight. “And I—I wanted you to meet Duncan soon.”

Oh man. Meeting Duncan. “I—I uh. . .” I stammered. Wow, he wanted me to meet his son. No one from The Commonwealth had ever traveled with MacCready to The Capital Wasteland to his homestead, not even Nora, and now he wanted me to meet Duncan. If RJ and I were getting serious, I’d have to stop cussing, and I’d have to be a good role model. “Okay,” I responded, my eyes as wide as saucers. “But RJ, it was just one mentat. I won’t be doing these things that often, but every once in a while won’t kill you.”

“Chems are just gonna drag you down,” MacCready spoke sternly. I bit my lip, holding back a chuckle as I shook my head. “What?” He pressed. “Why are you laughing?”

“You sound like such a _mungo_ ,” I spoke with a smirk as I watched his face fall, his mouth slowly open before I bit my lip, closing the lid of the sentry bot that I had finished repairing before slowly standing up, looking at him as he stood up with me. The bots were all fixed, Nora had fixed the turrets, everything was all taken care of. Now it was time to mess with RJ.

“What. . . did you just call me?” He asked slowly, clearly confused, clearly a bit heated.

The right corner of my mouth curled up into a devious smirk, tilting my head to the side to examine his face. I was saving this for the perfect moment, and this was it. 

I clicked my tongue, looking up at him deviously. “I called you a _mungo_ ,” I spoke, slowly dragging out the nickname from Little Lamplight he had used against adults. I slowly walked closer to him, slowly, my hands slowly rubbing up and down his arms, tilting my head upwards to brush my lips against his ear. “What’re you gonna do about it, _Mayor MacCready_?” I whispered in his ear, and I felt his arms wrap around my waist, hands resting on my lower back.

“I—I. . . “ He stammered, he was obviously caught between anger, and lust.

“Hey, well, wow,” Nora’s voice spoke as she walked up to us, in which we both realized we were still in broad daylight. “I came here to check on the sentry bot and accidentally walked in on. . . Hey. Wow.” She smiled awkwardly as Hancock gave us a thumbs up behind her. “So uh, let’s turn these babies on.”

Hancock snickered at the dirty joke we were all thinking of as Nora gave him a small tap on the arm. I pushed the fusion cores into the sentry bots, which both turned to me now. “Reporting. For. Duty.”

They both scanned MacCready, Nora and I, and the Minuteman who had walked by, and neither of them started to lock onto any of them. Good, because they needed to be ready for any incoming attacks.

Radio Freedom finally cut out, the voice of the station cutting in. “This is Radio Freedom with a breaking report from The Castle. Institute Synths are moving on our position. This is not a drill. All available Minutemen please move in to reinforce.”

Everyone fell silent. This was it. We all equipped our guns, me, reloading my Overseer’s Guardian, MacCready, checking the scope on his Sniper Rifle, Nora, holding up her Minigun, The Ashmaker. Her Laser Musket was slung on her back, and I was surprised at how much ammo she was carrying all at once.

“We have a swarm of attackers approaching from South Boston.” Nora, MacCready, Hancock, who was standing by the radio man, and I, rushed towards that corner of The Castle, the one pointing toward the city. MacCready aimed his Sniper Rifle now. “I see them. Incoming!” 

We began shooting at the early gen synth patrollers and coursers who had opened fire, their blue shots trailing through the sky as The Minutemen reloaded their laser muskets, the loud whirring noise followed by the beaming sound of their shots, red beams shooting through the blue in a chaotic hail. 

I aimed my Overseer’s Guardian before cursing, changing my reflex sight scope to a long reflex scope to snipe, aiming steadily, sucking in a breath. I began opening fire, taking down a few enemies that had tried to hide behind a big, broken red truck by shooting at the engine and setting it on fire, clearing the spot for our team.

“What a waste of ammo,” MacCready sighed. We weren’t done yet, though, I was sure the Institute would send more our way, after Nora chose The Minutemen over The Institute. 

And now, Synths were teleporting at The Castle’s entrance, I got shot in the leg, gasping as I took a Stimpak from my pocket, injecting my leg with it. I felt my bones crackle as they attempted to repair themselves, but once I finally got the ability to run again, MacCready and I ran towards the top of the castle as Nora and Hancock walked down into the road, shooting them head on as we supported them from the top.

“Betty, two o’clock,” MacCready spoke as he aimed at a different enemy, shooting him in the head. Killshot. I checked the enemy in my scope and held my breath, firing. He checked his scope now. “Cleared.” His way of telling me I got the enemy.

“Check the rear,” I said cautiously as I began aiming a synth that brought its down onto Nora, hitting her in the head, clearly stunning her. MacCready turned to look on the other side of the wall as I shot the synth in the arm, causing him to look up. The distraction was enough for Hancock to shoot it in the head, and it collapsed in front of them. Hancock gave me a thumbs up and I returned the gesture, turning towards MacCready who was reloading before he sniped an enemy synth in the head before it shot at The Castle’s generators. 

Enemy synths were now teleporting inside of the Castle, but they were almost out. I saw the grass in front of me shift, and before it could register, MacCready collapsed on the ground with a gasp, holding his side as his clothing pooled with blood.

A courser had used a stealth boy and walked right past me to incapacitate RJ. I rushed towards them, but the courser had punched him in the chest, causing him to gasp and collapse onto the ground. “I can’t take much more. . . “ He gasped shakily, his voice riddled with pain. I hit the air where I expected the courser to be, causing him to bleed just enough to keep track of him, aiming my gun at him as I unloaded into him, viciously tearing him apart with bullets as my love lay helpless on the ground. 

Once the courser was dead, I collapsed onto my knees, inspecting RJ’s wound. Didn’t look fatal, but he would die if I let him bleed out, and if any other enemy came up to strike him while he was down. I quickly pulled a Stimpak from my bag to administer it to him. “Come on, it’s okay,” I said worriedly, hoping this’d be enough, that it didn’t get him too bad. “RJ, you’re okay,”

“Betty, stop focusing on me! You’re gonna get hurt!” He worriedly lifted his head to look out for any enemies in case they came our way, but I had to help him. My mind was foggy, all I could focus on was him, and his wound. “Betty, please,” He pleaded. “Just go.”

“No,” I firmly spoke, standing up as I took out a few synth patrollers, keeping crouched by him as he tried to steady his breath, holding his side. He stood up after a few moments, holding his sniper rifle as he continued to point and shoot, point and shoot. He seemed determined to kill all of these bastards. I heard a rustling and turned, aiming my gun at yet another courser, bashing them in the skull with the butt of my gun before unloading my bullets into his chest, reloading while taking a step back, once the gun was reloaded I stepped forward and shot one last bullet into his chest before he collapsed, coming into picture now as he lay lifeless in his black Coarser coat. 

I changed the scope on my Overseer’s Guardian, placing my reflex sight back onto it as synths teleported into the castle, one of them ready to shoot the Radio Freedom announcer in the head, I jumped down from the talk height. “What the hell was that for?” MacCready commented as I fell from the long height, but I landed just fine, running towards the synth, gunning down the synth before spinning around to block a punch from a synth using my gun before slamming the butt of it into his head, knocking it clean off, wires bursting out of his neck. 

I saw the men and women fighting around me, their dedication, their strong will to fight, unloading bullets into the enemies for the greater good of the world: Protecting it, at a minute’s notice. 

This is what I fucking lived for, oh, yes, it was. The Minutemen, in all of their glory, allies, strangers who grouped together for The Greater Good, and they had my undying loyalty in this very moment, and it was never going to fade. 

I released my magazine, shoving the new clip into the gun before pulling the top lever back with a click, reloading before jumping towards the group of enemies that surrounded me: Five of them, a single bullet to the head close-range enough to cause them to collapse onto the ground. “System off,” One of the broken synths garbled as it collapsed. “You are damaging Institute property!”

I fought, throwing punches, landing bullets, jumping through the destruction of the enemies before me. They weren’t going to hurt any of these people, not if I had anything to say about it. 

Suddenly, RJ was running behind me, he seemed to be feeling a bit better, standing behind me. He had my back as I mowed down the front. I grinned and took out the enemies from the front as MacCready sniped the enemies rushing at us from behind so I didn’t have to keep twisting around. “Now that’s what I call a confirmed kill,” he spoke as I heard a synth deactivate at his perfect headshot. When he noticed I had unloaded a magazine into the courser that had started descending on us, blood staining his black courser coat before he collapsed on the ground, MacCready had another comment for it. “Ooh, that looked like it hurt!” 

And at once, we lowered our weapons, the enemies were all nothing but broken wires and parts, and Nora beamed proudly at me with Ronnie Shaw, whose eyes were wide as saucers as Nora brought the woman to me, a Minuteman with a med-kit started working on MacCready's wound, thankfully. I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on this conversation if I thought RJ was about to bleed out. “My god, you had more fight in you than half of The old Minutemen,” she spoke before saluting to me. “Pleasure to be working with you, Officer.” 

I beamed at her, but Nora turned to me, a soft smile on her face as her next words left her mouth. “Not officer. _General_.” 

Hancock had walked up to us now too, standing in between Nora and RJ, grinning knowingly at me. He didn’t have to hear the first half of the conversation to know what had just happened. This was planned.

I took a step back, looking at her with my jaw slightly slacked, Ronnie turned to look at her in shock. “But Nora—”

Nora shook her head, taking The Minuteman General’s brown hat off of her head, placing it on top of mine. “I was just holding the place for Betty, until she was ready. You can call me Major. Major Nora.” 

“Why?” I asked as the tears stung my eyes, MacCready reassuringly took my hand and squeezed it. 

She smiled as if what she was about to say was obvious. “You know what it’s like to be a soldier, Betty, and you had such a different image, a better image. This is your chance to bring that image to life, now that you’re ready, now that you’ve almost single-handedly wiped out more than half of the enemies that stormed The Castle. I saw the look in your eyes. You’re invested. You deserved a promotion, and here it is. The soldier out of time, commands the Minutemen at a minute’s notice. Of the people, for the people. Lead us wisely, General Jett.” 

My throat closed. The General of The Minutemen. This was my chance, my chance to take this pure cause and lead these people to a clean victory. To actually protect The Commonwealth, the goal I'd always wanted to achieve as an MP, a goal I never thought was tangible. But now, now it was. It was being given to me now, and I was at a loss for words. I fixed my hat on my head, pushing my bun into it to keep my hair in place underneath it. “I’ll make you proud, Nora.” 

Nora smiled. “You don’t have to convince me. I know you will.” She handed me the Minutemen General Uniform, a deep blue coat, black gloves, and brown pants and boots. This was it. It was time to accept my destiny.


	26. Institute Down, Part Two

I made sure Nora knew she was still leading The Minutemen to the fight to the Institute. I had plans of my own for the infiltration, but it was her son, her mission first, while I was frozen in time. I wasn’t stealing her thunder, I wasn’t taking this accomplishment on my own: I’d do other things in the future. 

She thanked me for mentioning this, even though she knew it was still her operation, it didn’t hurt to confirm, especially when we’d have to move out, and soon. 

“Will you be okay?” I asked RJ worriedly as I changed into The Minutemen General outfit. “We should have this looked at,” I spoke, inspecting the now empty bullet hole would. RJ had removed it himself, to the medic’s dismay, and he was now leaning against the wall of The General’s Quarters as I forced him to sit on the edge of the bed. He grimaced at the movement. “You can’t come with us to storm The Institute with this wound.”

He looked angry now, ready to protest, but I cut him off by placing a finger against his lips. “I’m serious,” I spoke sternly. “I’m going with The Minutemen, that’s protection enough. Alright? Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself.” I took my hat off, placing it on the nightstand before undoing my bun, shaking my hair out. God, my head was sore. 

His eyes watched me as I shook my hair, and I stopped when I noticed his eyes weren’t leaving me, not even for a moment. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

I grinned, placing a kiss on his mouth, quick, but loving. “Does this mean you’ll go see the doctor for a secondary check and stop whining?”

“No,” He spoke sharply, but his voice softened afterwards. “But if it means that much to you, I’ll let you go without me. Now go, before Nora and Preston come in here,” he spoke, laying down on the bed with a wince. “I don’t want everyone to see me like this.”

I rolled my eyes. Dramatic. “Don’t worry, I’ll send the doctor over.” I was about to walk away until his hand clasped my wrist, I turned around to look at him now. 

“Wait.” He had just told me to go, and now he had one last thing to tell me before I was off. “I’m serious about us,” he admitted, and I stopped in my haste to sit on the bed next to him. “So when you come home, you better come home in one piece,” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers taking the opportunity to run themselves through my hair. “And keep an eye out for Nora. She’s gonna need a shoulder.”

I grinned. “Oh, come on, RJ, I’m the death defying soldier. Have some faith in me.”

“You know I do. I believe you can do this, hell, probably better than me. Hell, way better than me,” he spoke, pushing his smug attitude aside to speak heart to heart. “But I’m always going to worry when you go off without me. I love you, Betty.” 

I squeezed his hands in between my smaller, softer ones. “I love you, too. I’ll see you when I get home: I promise.” 

\--

I met Nora, Preston, and a few Minutemen by Radio Freedom. “You guys are back,” Nora spoke, turning to us. “You’ll be going through the relay in about thirty minutes once I initiate the relay sequence. Then, we storm the Institute. You ready?” 

“Piece of cake,” I said. I did some special operations missions that included taking down groups of enemies in buildings. I checked my ammo: 2,500 .308 rounds, 10 fragmentation grenades, 5 molotov cocktails. 

I also packed 5 purified waters, 2 Nuka Cola Quantums, 6 grilled radroaches, 2 grilled ragstag, 3 mirelurk omelettes and 40 stimpaks for refueling and helping my team refuel as well. This was going to get messy, and I didn’t want to lose any troops.

“You should give a speech,” Nora said now, encouraging me to stand in front of the gathered mass of Minutemen. Even my Sentry bots came towards the group, but they stayed closer to me, and it seemed they were fully aware that I was their programmer. I turned to my Minutemen, who studied me uneasily. Although they knew who I was, they were obviously thrown by the sudden change in Leadership, and it was time to rally the crowd. 

I met the gaze of Preston Garvey, and I turned to him, walking towards him. “I. . .I just wanted to say, I will do my best to lead the people,” I spoke. “On my life, I’ll make sure this world is safe. I’ll do everything in my power.” 

He seemed to already know this, though. “I trust Nora’s decision, and I have seen you in action. I may not understand why Nora stepped down, but I understand why she has chosen you to take her place. You just have to prove it to everyone else now. Can you do it?”

I accepted the challenge, standing in front of everyone who now turned to face me, eager to hear my upcoming words. “From the moment I swore an oath to the United States Armed Forces, I had accepted the duty to protect the people, and despite all of the corruption and devastation that lay behind as we trudged on, lied to by my superiors, forced into unruly circumstances, I knew deep in my heart that there was a better way to invest all of the advanced technology of my time, to include everyone, regardless of origin, regardless of race, gender, from womb or machine, to come together and create something worth fighting for, to create something worth dying for, something that’d make our founding fathers proud. I was granted this second life, granted this opportunity through the same, cruel fate that had shown me no mercy before, given chances to help this cause by none other than Nora, the savior of The Commonwealth. And just how I have found my place of belonging, you all, too, have found solace in this group of vigilantes, true heroes, this group of sheer selflessness, the one objective: ‘Protect the People, at a Minute’s Notice.’ This is the organization, the cause the Armed Forces wished to be, but never could be, a better, stronger, smarter group of heroes, honest people sacrificing their lives for the greater good: The fate of the innocent people of The Commonwealth.

“And here, we gather in The Castle, this moment of victory shall be known as the day we faced The Institute, and the day we won. The day we liberated The Commonwealth of the corruption that ails it, the very organization that stripped us of our freedom to live in peace, who encouraged the same evil deeds the pre-war corruption had jumpstarted—The FEV virus, releasing these involuntary subjects, destroyed by mutation, into The Commonwealth to wreak havoc on the citizens just trying to get by, creating Synths to not only replace the people around us, but creating Synthetic life frivolously, without allowing them to live the lives and opportunities granted to them from the moment they came to existence. Today, we stop this corruption, and we lead The Commonwealth to freedom. Today, we make damn sure that no one will have to live in fear, by the protection of The Minutemen. Today, that corruption stops, and by our hands, by our muskets, by our dedication, our heroism.” Everyone was silent, all eyes on me, I hadn’t noticed but MacCready had gotten out of bed to hear my speech, and a Doctor was starting to inspect his wound as he kept his eyes glue to me, I turned to see Nora’s proud, beaming face, her husband’s grin of approval as he smoked his cigarette. 

“What say you?” I shouted, inspired by the faces that surrounded me as The Minutemen gave a powerful cry, some throwing fists in the air, some throwing their hats, my speech had lighted a new fire in their eyes that burned, a heat I could feel from here, that fueled my own flame to fight on. “The Minutemen will prevail! All of you have my word.” 

I gave a notion, cuing their dismissal as they scattered, rushing to battle stations, grabbing ammo, muskets, armor, stimpaks, everything as I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned to see Nora, staring into my eyes. She had done it again, she had changed yet another person’s life for the better, and in return, I owed her that life. It was hers to use as she sought fit, and I was honored to have a person like her to guide me through the madness I had risen from. 

We were The Minutemen. We were this world's salvation, its beacon of hope. 

\--

“Relaying in three. . . Two. . . One!” 

We were catapulted through a blue aura, as things around us went from foggy, to clear. Me, a few Minutemen recruits, Preston, and Hancock. We were in The Institute now. We walked outside of the teleportation room, Nora was in the white room ahead of us, standing at the terminal, and by the look on her face, she was. . . .Well. . . Clearly not having the best of times, but I wouldn’t be, either, if I found out my son was the institute.

I had overheard Nora and Hancock talking earlier, and apparently, the boy she thought was Shaun, the small black-haired boy who she had seen while in Kellog’s mind, was a synth. 

A synth. A little boy who would never age. (Author’s note: This is confirmed. If you listen to the Institute scientists as you’re exploring, they complain and call Father crazy, because a Synth child who cannot age is unethical, and it even crossed the line for them. The Synth boy had no other purpose besides because Father told them to.)

A boy who, despite carrying the same DNA as her, was not the same child that had been born of her womb. Her son, the one born of her, was much, much older, and he led The Institute. 

Not only that, Father was the one to release Nora from her cryopod. That meant Father knew where Nora was, knew she was going to have to fend for herself, that he wanted to see if his dear mother could survive The Wasteland. He had grown to be a man with no care for anyone but his own selfish reasons, and Nora had been robbed of her child, and the mind she could have molded. He was raised by the enemy, and he didn’t care if his own mother died trying to find him, and didn’t even help her find him. 

He was the enemy, and there was no getting past it. 

I didn’t tell anyone about what I had heard, it wasn’t my place to, but it made this mission so much harder. Not only was she going to have to destroy everything her son had spent so long building, his entire life, she was going to have to kill him.

I left as Hancock consoled her as she sobbed in his arms, and he held her tight and didn’t let go. It was a moment for just them, her, and her romanced companion. That was something I could understand very, very well. I wouldn’t want anyone else to know about the skeletons in my closet, just RJ.

I couldn’t look at Nora in the eye, no, not unless I wanted to feel like I was looking in a mirror. She hid behind the façade of a hero, when she believed she was a villain unmasked. She had to do things she didn’t want to, and people were going to get hurt, but she had no other choice but to lead this mission, and storm the Institute, and put an end to all of this madness. 

It was her duty, but it was not her pleasure.

The faces of these Institute Scientists we’d have to watch as we shot them down. The small children whose parents rushed them out just at the right time before their world came crumbling to ashes as the radiation of the atom bomb we were dropping, blasted into the already bruised Earth. Those families, they would also die. They couldn’t survive in The Commonwealth. They had feared it for so long, they’d convinced themselves that dropping an atomic bomb on us would save them, but it was all the same. 

The bombs would still drop, and people would still get hurt, because war. . . . War never changes.

I went through it once, and I saw the devastation that led in its unforgiving path, as I soon know Nora will be alive to witness this, her own two hands, as she is the one to press that big red button, sending the Institute to Hell once and for all.

Everyone in this very building who was with The Institute, they’d all be dead men walking. But that was war. And for the sake of The Commonwealth, we had to win it. 

“Well, I guess I’m still in one piece,” Preston spoke to Nora as he looked at himself after stepping out of the relay room, cutting me out of my grim thoughts. “So this is the Institute. They could’ve just held down here forever. Why’d they need to come mess with us?”

Nora hesitated, but she put on her brave face. “I don’t care why they did it, they’re going to pay.”

“You’re damn right they are,” Preston firmly responded. “In any case, here we are. No turning back now. . .You’re going to need this. It’s a Fusion Pulse Charge; once its attached to the reactor, it can be detonated remotely,“ he handed her a square piece of tech, it had a bigger, thinner flat square base to it. “You get that on the reactor, and we can trigger an explosion that’ll destroy everything the Institute has ever built.”

Wow, Nora must have really had mixed feelings about that sentence. I surely would have.

Preston continued. “Just make sure we give the civilians a chance to escape before we blow the place. We’re not here to commit mass murder. We’d better hurry. They’re going to realize what’s going on before too long.” He turned to Sturges now, who typed away at the terminal Nora was just on. “Sturges, you’d better get to work on this teleporter or theirs. We need that thing running as soon as possible. You pull us back up as soon as we give the signal. And anyone from the Institute who wants out, you let ‘em so as long as they aren’t shooting at you.”

We began to walk away as Sturges and Preston had their chat. We couldn’t wait forever to do this. We opened the silver door at the end of the room and down the stairs to set of beat up silver doors. We opened the door, which revealed a tattered, destroyed wreck of a room, the windows smashed, the ground brown with age, the walls an off egg color. 

We all crouched as we neared the stairs that led down. “Is someone there?” the voice of an early generation synth questioned. Nora turned the corner and began shooting the enemy down with her Deliverer, I turned too and shot a few of the synths on the second floor. Everyone suddenly flew into action, shooting down synth patrollers, until we cleared the next flight of stairs. Turrets started to fire from the ceiling across from the room, synth patrollers shooting at us from broken windows on the second floor and a few shot from the bottom floor. We ran through and around the hallway to hit the synths who shot from this floor head on, then walked down the stairs to kill the ones who had taken the corner waiting for us to walk ahead. We shot down the last of our enemies before we walked to the hatch on the ground, jumping down it as Nora took the fusion core from the generator in front of us.

We walked down a severely damaged hallway, aged, destroyed, supplies and tech it hit rendered useless. God, The Institute was uglier than I thought. At the end of the tunnel, we made a right through the hole made in the wall to find another room crumbled to bits. We walked through the white door and into what looked like a small office before walking down another flight of stairs and through the door.

Holy shit.

The Institute was clean. Purely fucking clean, with white walls, blue, polished tile floors, not a sign of age or decay or dust or dirt. The terminals were brand new, unrecognizable with thin, circular screens. They even had plants, green, lush, plants growing in little planters. We walked through the room on the right, a huge, white room with white floors, Synth patrollers shooting at us as we dodged the laser turrets on the far side of the room. This entire room had greenery, and. . . .Wait, gorillas?! Why in the hell were there gorillas in the back of the room, behind a panel of glass like a little showcase?

No time to think, we began shooting at the enemy synths, I shot down the two annoying laser turrets, one of them got me right in the chest, but thankfully my chest armor had absorbed the damage, it was just the impact that hurt. 

I shot two synth patrollers in the head as they collapsed before we walked out of the open door and towards the yellow ones. We were met with instant opposition, Institute coursers popping stealth boys so we couldn’t see them as they began to shoot, their guns the only signal of their location as we jumped out of the way and began firing at the origin of those icy blue shots. Nora took out her Ashmaker and began to mow them down as Hancock began to shoot the closer range synth patrollers who ran towards us, his shotgun enough to knock them on their asses before giving the final blow. 

A rain of bullets casdaded through the air as all firepower was directly at the Institute patrollers and coursers, who could not hold us off for long.

“Fuckin’ assholes!” I shouted as one of them shot me right in the ass, turning around and shooting him in the chest a few times before he finally fell, I reloaded my gun now. 

“Help me, someone!”

“Don’t look!” 

Oh, my god, The Institute Scientists were watching us do this, and there were those voices, back to haunt me.

I let out a shaky gasp as I gripped my head. Oh, my god. Oh my god. I was helping Nora do this, I was helping her, and although these people had done some very, very bad things, did that mean they all had to die? I began to hyperventilate, my eyes shifting around. I needed something, anything to ground me. I reached into my pocket to find something, maybe a mentat, maybe some med-x, but my hand brushed against something smooth. I pulled the object from my pocket.

The small wooden soldier MacCready had given me. I took a deep breath. 

The war is over, Betty. The war is over.

But really, was war ever over? Did it ever end?

I took the one second I had to look at the small wooden soldier in my hand. I had fallen in love with a Wastelander, I had trusted the people up on the surface, I had rushed into a firefight to save my fellow Minutemen. That world up there. . . .

It was worth saving. It was worth risking my life for.

The war wasn’t over. Maybe it’d never be. All I knew was I wasn’t going down, no, not without the fight of my life.

I put it the object back into my pocket as I began to gun enemies down again, left and right, shooting those who shot at me, pausing only to reload, crouching behind anything I could before rushing back out, elbowing a synth patroller in the face here, kneeing a courser there, bullets flying and my gun smoking.

After what these people did to The Commonwealth, the continuation of experiments on FEV, releasing those Super Mutants into the world, Swan, what happened to University Point, the village of traders, men, women, children alike, gunned down by the Institute, the slavery they kept running by mass producing synthetic humans to either fight for them, replace humans above ground, or work themselves to the bone, the bombs they planned to drop on the entirety of The Commonwealth, the entire Boston area, just for their one, small underground operation, refusing to spare the men, women and children above ground, fighting to survive, to scavenge for their next meal or clothing. . . 

Yes, The Institute deserved to die. And here I was, the soldier carrying out my duty, fighting the opposition, fighting this institution, fighting corruption itself. I was saving The Commonwealth, humans and synths and ghouls alike, the landscape, the progress the world above ground had made, and this, this was justice. Real, righteous, beautiful justice. 

We were saving the world by destroying this place. 

Once the enemies lay dead, and the Institute Scientists found their hiding spots from us, not daring take a shot at any one of us, we heard Sturge’s voice over the intercom. 

“Hey there, Major. Found the reactor. . . Looks like you need to get yourself to the Advanced Systems area. Only, well, it’s locked. I can’t override it from here; looks like the command can only come from the Director’s personal terminal. You’re gonna need to get access to it somehow.”

Nora began to head to the elevator, and Preston turned to me.

“General,” he spoke, and I turned to look at him. That was me now. General Jett. “You keep left and I will keep right. Once Nora pushes the command through, we may face more enemies.”

I gave a curt nod. That was obvious knowledge, but I was grateful he didn’t want me to get caught off guard and killed here. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I kept left now, scanning the stairs for any enemies that may run down it, as Nora was taken up the elevator. 

After five minutes, we heard Sturges speak again on the intercom. “All right, good job! Looks like that’s opened things up enough for you to reach the reactor. Some other good news, I’ve almost got the teleporter working, should be ready to pull you out whenever you need.”

We began to gun down the enemies that had come out, a few shots in the chest did the trick, if not headshots. As Nora came down the elevator, we began to run towards yellow doors. We ran back through them, shooting at the enemy synths that had gathered there. 

“To your left, General!” 

I turned to the left, shooting a Courser in the head before he could shoot me. I nodded at the Minuteman who had helped me, and he nodded back. We walked through the silver doors leading to the Institute Reactor. We found some synths had been deactivated, but the hallway leading up to the reactor room was lined with turrets. I shot them before Nora could get shot, and she made her venture to the reactor room where we gave her much needed backup. Our Geiger Counters were clicking as we walked around the room, shooting at the insanely strong Synth that remained at the top of the stairs. 

Nora was able to open the reactor’s doors as she placed the Fusion Pulse Charge on the reactor housing. 

“Talk about science run amok.” Preston said before contacting Sturges. “Sturges, we’re done here, zap us back to the relay room.”

He took us first, Nora hadn’t reappeared yet, but there was a young boy standing in front of the terminal Sturges was once again typing on. 

Nora now reappeared, and she looked down at the boy wearing the white Institute clothing. She hesitated, staring at him as Preston spoke to Sturges.

“Alright Sturges, let’s get the hell out of here.”

Sturges hesitated as he typed away. “I would, man, but. . . This kid showed up. Says he’s the Major’d son.”

As if on cue, the boy started to plead with Nora. “Please, mom don’t leave me here, I want to go with you!”

Nora’s breath caught, she stared at the boy as her eyes brimming with tears. “D-did you just call me mom?”

The boy, synth Shaun spoke quickly, he was clearly terrified. Oh, what he must have seen, what he must have gone through as everyone around him ran for safety. The fact he made it here meant he was smart enough to follow us, and he believed Nora was his mother.

Her son must have programmed him this way, for Nora. “Yeah, you’re my mom, right? Come on, let’s go, please don’t leave me!”

Nora smiled, sniffling. “Yes, I’m your mother. Come on, let’s go.”

“Really? Do you really mean it?” Shaun sounded worried, as if she was going to suddenly change her mind.

“Yes, I mean it. Now let’s get out of here.”

“I’m glad you were here to save me.” 

“I knew you could do it.” Sturges spoke as Nora turned to him, clearing her throat as she ran a hand through her short black hair. 

“Alright Sturges, fire it up,” she spoke somberly. 

“You didn’t leave anything behind, did you? All set to get out of here?”

“Absolutely. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“I’m sending you to the detonation site, then set the relay to shoot the kid here back to The Castle – we’ll get him a change of clothes and look after him. Now you press that button extra hard when you get there. See you on the other side. . .”

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Shaun spoke worriedly. Nora, Hancock, Preston, and I stepped into the relay as Sturges worked his magic, a blue light zapping Preston and Nora, before I went through the relay, and we ended up on the top of the Mass Fusion building, overlooking the detonation spot. The big red button waited for Nora, as I stared at that button. This was it. This was permanent. 

“Sturges figured this was a safe distance outside the blast radius. Whenever you want to see ‘humanity’s best hope for the future’ go up in smoke, just hit that button. 

Nora hesitated as she stepped forward, her eyes inspecting the button in front of her, but she raised her hand and slammed her fist upon it, a high pitched, shrieking sound pitched the sky as a blue light illuminated the area, a vertical blue light piercing the location of The Institute as a blinding light burst into a large fireball, smoke swarming the surrounding areas as the Earth quaked. The flames darkened in the night sky, staining it for just a moment as the light dissipated, leaving just. . .Darkness.

I felt the rumble of the ground underneath me. This must have torn Nora apart, and all I could do was place a hand on her shoulder. She turned to me now, her hollow eyes fell on me, they held sadness, but despite that, she smiled at me. She let out a choked laugh before her lower lip quivered, and she pulled me into a hug. I stiffened at the sudden touch, but I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me, and it seemed like the right thing to do. She needed support more than ever, and I was here to help. 

Now she would have some time to herself, to get to know this new Shaun, to get on with her life, as I took her place. I wasn’t sure how involved she’d be with The Minutemen now that this was over, but like she had accepted me, and waited patiently for me to come around, I’d do the same for her. I’d be here with jobs available if she wanted it, but for now. . . .

For now, Nora’s new life began.


	27. Home

I put my bag beside the door as I got home, yawning, checking the time. It was already 11 o’clock at night and I was exhausted. I crept into my bedroom a smile on my face when I saw MacCready sleeping soundly. I tiptoed to the bed, peeling off my dirty clothes before putting an old blue Nuka Cola tee and old shorts. MacCready stirred in his sleep, rolling over as he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me into him. I gasped at the sudden movement as he buried his head in the crook of my neck. “You’re getting better at sneaking. I almost didn’t notice you’d come home till you got on the bed.”

I grinned, resting my hand on top of his, the one he had wrapped around me. Sleeping as a couple was much better now, he’d shamelessly hold me throughout the night, with the occasional kiss on the cheek or forehead when he woke up throughout the night.

My nightmares weren’t as frequent anymore, but whenever I did have them, he’d wake me up and hold me, talking to me about them, or helping me forget them. 

It was all so new, all so unfamiliar but he was the one I wanted to act this way with, and him only. He was the one I had chosen, as he had chosen me. 

“Are you still awake?” I whispered.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He asked, his hand leaving my stomach to slide down my thigh. 

“Er. . .You mentioned that you wanted me to meet your son. . .Why?” I asked, he placed a kiss against my jawline. His fingers traced my cheekbone.

“Because I meant it when I told you I was serious about us.” His response seemed so nonchalant, but I was reluctant to believe it. After a moment of internal debate, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, as he had earned it time and time again.

“And what happens if he hates me?” I asked, my question a soft whisper, I felt a ball form in my throat as anxiety kicked in. RJ noticed this, letting me go so I could turn around to face him, my eyes desparately trying to avoid his, but he lifted my chin gently, making me look at him. He looked at me with a sweet expression, but I could see the concern in his eyes.

“Well, I love you, and Duncan’s sure to love you, too. Just. . . Easy with the language,” he chuckled. “He hates it when I cuss.”

I bit my lip, my fingers stroking his chin gently before tracing the curve of his sharp cheekbone. “That’s gonna be a problem.”  
He rolled his eyes with a curt laugh. “Trust me, if you heard how I spoke before he asked me to stop cussing so much. . . “ He bit his lip and began laughing. “Oh, man. It was bad.”

I grinned. “I need to hear it, at least once.” He scoffed at my request. 

“Why?” He questioned humorously. “You’ve heard me slip up before. It only happens if I get really, really mad.” 

I fell silent, deep into thought now, but after a few seconds of this, he responded quickly. “If you’re thinking of pissing me off, please don’t,” he moaned. He knew me too well. I wasn’t seriously considering it, anyways, just thinking about what it would take to really get him heated. The ‘mungo’ comment I had made before we defended The Castle was only good for the rarest occasions, and even then, he seemed to not get entirely too mad at the playful jab. “I’m trying to be a better man.”

I ran my fingers through his hair now, gently scratching his scalp as he closed his eyes, he loved it when I did this, and to be honest, I liked it in return. It felt amazing to get a head scratch, but of course, I wasn’t one to request more affection. “I don’t know, I think you’re a perfect man as is.”

He cracked a grin at this. “Oh, really?”

I smiled. “Hey, you got a grumpy bitch like me to fall in love you.”

“Hey,” he responded sternly, his eyebrows furrowed together as he frowned at me. “You’re not a bitch.” He gasped, his hand covering his mouth at the cuss word he accidentally said. “Dam-DANG, dang it! God, fu-FUDGE! Look what you do to me,” he teased. “Your potty mouth is contagious.” 

“I’ve heard you say damn plenty of times. I’ve not heard you say ‘fuck’ more than, er, twice?” I  thought, tapping my chin in thought, pulling the covers higher to cover my cold shoulder. His hand slid up my arm now. “But this is definitely the first time I’ve heard you say ‘bitch.’”

“What, you count now?”

“Yep. I’m gonna tell on you,” I teased. His hand found my lower back as he pulled me into him, I buried my head into his chest and welcomed the warmth, smelling the scent of Bourbon, cigarettes and gunpowder on him. “Duncan, your dad is a potty mouth,” I spoke in a mocking, joking voice. 

“Go ahead, tell ‘em,” he spoke with a shrug, running his fingers through my hair as he rest his head upon mine. “I’ll tell him you cuss waaaaaaaay more than I do.”

I had a hard time wrapping it around my head that Duncan may become my step-son in the near future. I felt like I was thirty, but I still acted like my age, 21. Well, acted how a 21 year old would act, pre-war. It wasn’t something I’d allow myself to freak out about too hard over just yet. I smiled at him before closing my eyes. There was no way I’d be conscious within the next ten minutes. I was exhausted. “Did you feel the blast from here?”

“No, but I heard it,” he replied. “Is everything alright? How’s Nora?”  
Although he was someone I could confide my trust him, I understood her secret was not mine to tell, so I just smiled. “She’s good.”

He could tell that I lied, I could see it in his expression, but thankfully, he just let it go. “Alright. Goodnight,” he kissed me on the forehead as I drifted off to sleep.


	28. Upping Defenses

It had been a week since we brought the fight to The Institute and won. So far, as Minutemen General, we had upped our settlement defenses by adding four new turrets to each one, adding the remaining sentry bots and Mr. Gutsy’s I had taken from Military Base Aurora. We had also set up a lot of artillery, placing a canon at every settlement. This way, our area of protection was a lot wider, and a lot more efficient. 

We had a new system in The Minutemen: I’d send groups of Minutemen to each settlement to make routine rounds in groups, upping our presence in The Commonwealth, making our cause more widespread, which in turn, attracted a lot of new recruits. Everyone knew that we had taken the fight to the Institute and we had won, but the last nudge in the right direction was our relentless dedication to our cause. If things weren’t looking the best they could be, these groups would stay and help out, planting more produce with the help of our supply lines, helping them with farm work if they needed an extra hand, patrolling the perimeter if enemies started to snoop around the area. This way, the chances of attacks were much lower. 

This new system made it easier for me to do more than just help Settlements. I only needed to visit them when they needed help fending off enemies, and when their defenses were low, destroyed, or needed repairs. I would still make my routine rounds, they would just be a lot less frequent as our numbers grew, and we were able to thrive. This way, if something happened to me, The Minutemen wouldn’t just fall to pieces. They’d keep organized.

The Brotherhood did not take too well to our fight to The Institute. When Elder Maxson received word we had taken them down with The Minutemen, he requested me upon the Prydwen. When we discussed the matter, and he found out my new position as The Minutemen General, he seemed to stop challenging me, but he did not seem happy with it. I told him that The Brotherhood and The Minutemen could get along—If The Brotherhood did not threaten anyone under Minutemen protection. In order to keep the peace, I taught a few workshops for The Brotherhood, how to fix and or modify a laser rifle with scrap items, how to properly use hand to hand combat if weapons were no longer an option, but I didn’t give them the same intensive training I offered to The Minutemen who requested a personal class run by me. 

The Railroad was a lot more relieved to hear that I destroyed The Institute, as they had welcomed a handful of Synths who got out with the evacuation alert. They were able to deal with the fact that my loyalty fell to The Minutemen, and I helped them begin to find homes for these synths, offering spots in different settlements before deciding I’d give The Railroad Taffington Boathouse and Croup Manor. At these settlements, my Minutemen made their rounds and treated these synths as normal people, as it was now a spoken rule that we respected all kinds of people willing to join The Minutemen, whether they were ghoul, synth, or robot. This rule was in place under Nora, but I made it more outwardly clear, and when I overheard ghoul or synth hate coming out of the mouths of my recruits, I’d make sure it was clear that behavior wasn’t acceptable in our faction. The Minutemen had zero room for discrimination. Synths were allowed to live in peace, just as birthed humans were. 

Nora had continued to help the same way she did as General, only this time, she came to me when something important had come to light. She’d usually take the jobs, believing it to be helpful for the both of us if she did, but she definitely had more time to herself, time she would spend with Shaun and Hancock, who seemed to frequent Sanctuary more often. Although now, when it came to affection, Nora and Hancock were far more outward about it, and everyone learned of their romance. 

As for RJ and I. . . . Things were the best they’d ever been between us. I’d never believed I could fall in love with someone, but I did, and he had deserved such love from me. We were a bit more obvious about our relationship, not like it was a big secret, but I wasn’t used to public affection, and it was going to take some getting used to. RJ was in no rush to push me to be more outward about how I felt, he knew exactly how much I loved him.

We were going to visit The Capital Wasteland to meet his son in two days, we were planning on spending the next two days ensuring The Castle’s defenses were maxed before we began the long journey to his homestead. I was nervous about it, but I was making Minutemen defenses the only worry that was allowed to hop into my mind today. 

\--

“Nothing I love more than standing out in the open waiting to get shot,” RJ spoke sarcastically as I began flipping through my Pip Boy on the way to The Castle. I rolled my eyes. 

“Relax, enemies aren’t going to jump out as much now that we’re closing in on Minutemen turf.” The mutants who used to swarm a mile out had moved locations, and after killing so many ferals, there were a very small number of them left, too. I grinned when I saw Diamond City Radio and tuned into it, the song The Wanderer began to play as RJ rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, great, nothing says ‘kill me’ like a loud radio to alert our positio—“ I cut him off as I began to sing the song. 

“Ooooh, well, I'm the type of guy who will never settle down. Where pretty girls are, well you know that I'm around. I kiss 'em and I love 'em cause to me they're all the same, I hug 'em and I squeeze 'em, they don't even know my name. They call me the wanderer, Yeah, the wanderer, I roam around, around, around,” 

He rolled his eyes as he walked ahead of me, I had started walking to the beat, hopping, spinning, even once running around him before he stopped and folded his arms over his chest. “Since when did you turn into the biggest dork on the planet?”

I grinned as I took his hand, swinging it as I began singing again, shaking my butt as I swung my arms around. “Oh well, there's Flo on my left and then there's Mary on my right! And Janie is the girl well that I’ll be with tonight! And when she asks me, which one I love the best? I tear open my shirt and I show "Rosie" on my chest, Cause I'm the wanderer! Yeah, the wanderer. I roam around, around, around. Oh well, I roam from town to town, I go through life without a care, And I'm as happy as a clown, I with my two fists of iron but I'm going nowhere!” 

I glanced at his face now as I swung my arms, his hand still in mine as I flung his right arm with mine, as he refused to participate, his arm only moving when I moved it, but I saw the twitch that played on his lips, and I knew he was amused. I stopped acting line a fool, giving his hand a tight squeeze before snickering. “You’re the only person on this planet whose allowed to see me act like this.” 

“Well, there’s a privilege I’ll have to decline,” he joked. I pushed him on the arm gently, and his thumb began stroking my hand as he adjusted his hand to firmly hold mine. 

“Or maybe, you think it’s adorable.” 

“Or maybe, juuust maybe, you’re a huge dork.” 

“Fine, you big baby, I’m a huge dork,” I sighed, but as the song was ending, he sang the last few lyrics, his hand pulling mine back up in the air as he gave me a fraction of what I had done just a bit earlier. I placed my hand over my mouth and started snickering, biting back my laugh, but as he grabbed me by both hips and started to dance with me during the last of the song, we were both cracking up.

I couldn’t help it. I was so happy. Here we were, the two of us, side by side for the rest of our lives. It was only just the beginning. 

He turned the dial of my Pip Boy, clicking Diamond City Radio to turn it off, his hand slipping down my lower back to pull me closer to him with a hand firmly on my butt. “I love you,” he said, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. I took his hat off of his head and put it on mine, tucking my bun into it. 

“I love you, too.” 

—

We arrived at The Castle, RJ wearing The Minutemen General hat, me wearing his hat, giggling to ourselves before I pulled him into a kiss by the Radio Freedom tower, in the center of The Castle. 

People stopped to look at us, but I didn’t care. He seemed surprised at my sudden public display of affection, but he welcomed it, giving me one last kiss on the cheek as he pulled away. “I’m gonna go check out the basement. Nora mentioned something about some disarmed mines she left down there. You can hang out with Hancock, he should be around here somewhere.” 

He chuckled. “Well, now that I have a funny hat,” he spoke, tapping on my General’s hat on his head. “That takes that off the list.” 

I rolled my eyes with a smirk before I headed through my General’s quarters and down the stairs, heading through the stockroom. 

I ended up turning a corner to find a deactivated Sentry Bot against the wall, by a terminal. I approached the bot, inspecting him before pushing him forward and removing his back plate to inspect him. He had a dead radroach crammed in his plate, and I grimaced, pulling the roach out and cleaning his wires, plugging everything back together before placing a fusion core in his back. 

The bot quickly ascended forward before turning to me, scanning me. “Identity confirmed: Betty Jett, MP,” it spoke robotically in its deep Sentry Bot voice. “Sarge. Reporting. For. Duty.” 

I smiled at the robot. “You look like you’ve been here a while. Let’s go.” I grabbed the disabled mines Nora had mentioned off of the shelf and walked out, Sarge following behind me as we walked through the exit that led into the courtyard. Ronnie quickly aimed her gun, cranking the lever as it powered up three times. 

“General, look out—. . . Huh?” Ronnie stopped in her tracks, lowering her gun. 

“Were you. . .About to shoot the robot?” I asked with a confused frown, turning to look at Sarge who was patiently standing there. As I moved forward, he did, too. 

She chuckled before she turned to Nora, who had ran over at the sight of the Sentry bot, like everyone else had. She looked like she had just seen a ghost, and MacCready tried to take my hand to pull me away from the bot, but when he realized it was just standing there patiently, he stopped, confused. 

What the hell was the big deal? 

“Why did you go down there?!” Nora asked with a high-pitched squawk, looking at me as if I had grown two heads. 

I folded my arms. “What is the big deal? I remembered you mentioned something about leaving mines, so I went to go grab them.” 

Nora stared at Sarge, walking closer to him slowly before shaking her head with a laugh. “Wow, you fixed him.”

“Not really,” I shrugged. “Found a fried radroach in his wiring, all I did was remove it and clean him up before I rewired him. Then, he scanned me, and recognized me; Military bots don’t attack me, they still see me as an MP.” 

Nora seemed to be wildly fascinated by this fact, and she chuckled. “Wow, that’s impressive. Sarge tried to kill me last time I saw him, but it looks like he won’t try that again unless I attack you.” 

“Reasons not to attack me,” I winked before patting Sarge’s arm plate. “Patrol the perimeter. Protect these people at all costs.” 

“Yes. Ma’am.” 

He rolled away now, his red light scanning Minutemen as he went forward to patrol the entrance of The Castle. 

Ronnie beamed proudly at me. “Wow, Jett, you really are something. I haven’t seen Sarge take orders like that in a damn long time. Glad to have you leading this operation, seems like Nora was right to put you in charge.”

“Thank you, Ronnie,” I thanked gratefully before I turned to examine and admire The Castle—courtyard, that was now filled with a few Minutemen patrollers. “Three sentry bots and two artillery canons good enough for The Castle? Or should I add more turrets along the walls?” I asked her now as she looked around at our operation.

“Never hurts to be safe.”

“Right you are,” I spoke. “I’m going to build two for each corner. Eight turrets. Have the people in charge of scavenging find all the gears and the oil they can possibly find; I have enough to build the turrets, but I want to make sure we’re all fully stocked of supplies before I head out for the week.”

“General, you worry too much,” one of my recruits spoke at me, and I smiled at him, examining his youthful face. He couldn’t have been older than twenty, but he definitely looked determined to impress me, to prove his worth as a Minuteman. I believed his name was Danny. “We’ll start as soon as possible, but don’t worry. We have this all under control, thanks to you.”

“Danny, right?” he nodded. I grinned at him and gave him a salute. “Keep up the good work. You’ll be jumping ranks soon enough.”

He was obviously flattered by this, nodding firmly before he turned and began to direct a few other Minutemen to join him in scavenging as I headed towards the workbench, sitting on the ground next to it as I lay all the parts I needed on the ground in front of me. 

\--

I finished the turrets, but I added an extra modification that would shoot lasers as a failsafe in case someone was really pelting it with bullets. It’d shoot them out before it went offline, and I made sure to up the thickness of its steel plating to withstand heavier rounds. By the time I was done, it was 10:30 at night, and MacCready was walking towards me wit something in his hands.

“Hey,” he stopped me as I looked up at him, standing from the moving turrets. I’d have to wait until tomorrow to start placing them around the perimeter. I was too exhausted to keep going without getting some rest. “Grub.” He handed me a plate of cooked softshell mirelurk meat, and I took it gratefully. He reached into his pocket and took out a purified water, opening it for me as I took it and drank half of it, leaning back against the workshop as I started eating. No time to walk to the mini restaurant by the collapsed wall behind Radio Freedom’s tower. 

“Thanks,” I said. In my desire to get these turrets done and ready for placement before nightfall, I had forgotten to eat, and I was famished. He sighed and sat next to me, leaning his head against my shoulder as he closed his eyes. 

Various Minutemen walked across the courtyard, some prepping to go to bed, some starting their new guard shift. 

You must be tired,” he spoke, and I rest my head against his now. “Everyone sees how hard you’ve been working, and word is, they’re all in agreement that you deserve to be The General. I mean, hell, I don’t know why you want to channel all of your time and energy into this instead of making caps, but. . . Whatever makes you happy. Seems to be your calling.”

I knew he didn’t always agree with The Minutemen. He felt it was a useless cause, but I was happy to see he didn’t belittle me for wanting to create it into something bigger and better, and I was happy to see how much he appreciated my efforts. He was being supportive as my partner. “This is the second-best thing that’s happened to me,” I said, placing my empty plate on the ground next to me. When we got up to go to bed, I’d wash it. I just wanted to stay in this trance with him forever, “The first, was meeting you.” 

I lifted my head off of his as he turned to kiss me on the temple, a small, sweet gesture. “Side by side, we can take on the whole world. . .And nothing’s going to stop us.”


	29. Dreams and Swear Jars

That night, I didn’t have a single bad dream, just a variety of positive ones. 

_The first dream was of my Minutemen, standing behind me as we took down an army of Super Mutants as they attacked Oberland Station, laser shots flying through the air as we assembled, rescuing our settlers from harm, my Minutemen General hat firmly holding my hair together, my weapon, cocked, ready to fire at any other enemies who dared attack the innocent protected under the Minutemen._

_The second dream was. . . A life I didn’t think I’d wanted, one I didn’t expect. A small boy, brunette, running towards MacCready as he hoisted the boy up, spinning him as he laughed. “Faster, dad!” RJ laughed and did as he was asked as the boy began to laugh even harder, a silly expression on his face with his tongue sticking out as RJ placed the boy back on the ground. The boy turned to me. “Ready to go, mom?”_

_“Of course, Duncan,” A voice replied, and it took me a moment to realize it was mine, as I watched myself come into the image now as I had an out-of-body experience. Duncan ran over to me, his small hand taking mine as I smiled down at him before we walked to the bridge of Sanctuary, MacCready holding the boy’s other hand as we walked down the bridge, hoisting him up at the same time with the arm we were using to hold him as he laughed and swung forward. I watched as our happy little trio walked away, into the distance, to where? I didn’t know, but we looked so. . . Happy. It felt so right._

_The third dream was pretty funny. Hancock was admiring a gun Shaun had made all by himself for him, Hancock whistled, clearly impressed as he ruffled the boy’s hair. “Thank you, Shaun.”_

_“You’re welcome, dad,” he replied with a large smile as Nora came up behind Hancock, her hand sliding along his shoulder before she bent down to Shaun’s level. “There you are, mom!”_

_“Here I am,” she laughed, her beautiful voice sounded so elated, so proud of her little boy. He beamed at her now. “Wow, look at you. Looks like you’re cut out to be a Minuteman.” Her boy looked so proud to have received that compliment, hugging her as she kissed Hancock on the cheek._

...

Our yellow, aged alarm clock started to beep as MacCready and I awoke, stretching and yawning before his arms wrapped around me and pulled me into his chest. “Damn, is it time to go already?” MacCready sighed tiredly. We didn’t go to sleep until 2 in the morning, but the reason why we had taken so long to fall asleep, was totally worth it.

We heard a knock at the wooden doors of my quarters, I groaned and sat up in my bed, pulling the blanket over my naked chest hurriedly as Preston burst in the room. “Christ, man!” I yelped as he saw the situation, RJ, hand over his tato red face, hair disheveled, but not as disheveled as mine.

He quickly walked back out without another word, obviously just as mortified as RJ and I were. 

“Well,” I began, trying to find the right words to say in response. “Wow.” I sighed before pulling myself out of bed, dressing myself hastily before running out of the room, MacCready following behind as he pulled on his duster.

We met with Preston, who stood in the center of the courtyard next to the radio tower, his cheeks a soft red as he turned to us. “Er, I uh, I’m sorry about—“

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it.” MacCready spoke quickly. “Ever.” 

Preston cleared his throat now as he tilted his chin upwards and cleared his throat. “I, erm, Nora and Hancock took Shaun back to Sanctuary, but she wanted you to stop by Graygarden before you left.”

I internally groaned. It would take me at least three hours to build the wooden stilts to keep the turrets off the ground so no enemies would be able to reach them with their arms, and it would take me about two hours to walk to Graygarden. If I had to help that settlement before MacCready and I left, it was going to take us at least five hours to help them, so we might as well stay there the night in Nora’s small makeshift home before we headed for The Capital Wasteland. I turned to look at RJ, who just let out a large sigh before rolling his eyes.

“Oh, yeah, Preston, let’s just add that on our mile-long to-do list,” he scoffed, but when I gave him an irritated look, he rolled his eyes again, but stopped talking.

Preston stared at MacCready for a good moment before shaking his head, his eyes on me again. “Don’t worry, General. I’ve got The Castle under control.” 

“Thanks, Preston,” I spoke. I was lucky to have both him and Nora involved in this cause, or I’d be going insane right about now. I ran my fingers through my hair. “And when we get back from The Capital Wasteland, I’m gonna have to talk to Elder Maxson, and Desdemona, and double, no, triple check that there’s no tension building between them both,” They hadn’t had contact with each other, as they’ve been convinced The Railroad had ceased their efforts to help synths, and they had no idea The Minutemen was actively helping them with their synths. If I had to choose between the two, I’d choose The Railroad, and I’d probably begin forming Minutemen units to patrol certain areas of The Commonwealth to make sure people could travel easily without getting destroyed by a Super Mutant on the way. 

Our main goal was to make The Commonwealth a better place, an easier place to live. I was hoping I’d be able to convince MacCready to bring Duncan here, and if I wanted that to happen, I was going to have to prove this place was safe for him. Of course, he’d live in Sanctuary with the rest of us, in my house’s extra bedroom, but MacCready seemed very adamant about keeping Duncan out there, as if it was safer to have him so far away from him. 

I quickly set up defenses as RJ tried to be as helpful as possible, carrying pieces of wood to each of the top corners of the castle so I didn’t have to walk all the way back to the workshop every time I finished pacing turrets on each corner. 

“We’re gonna head out now,” I turned to RJ, taking his hand in mine. 

Preston overheard me, and he approached me again. “Stay safe, General.”

“You got it, Preston,” I said as MacCready grabbed our bag of supplies, and we headed off towards Graygarden.

\--

While we were on our way to Graygarden, MacCready humorously said, “I can see my house from here.” When I turned to look at him with a confused expression, he replied again. “Sorry, I always wanted to say that.”

I snickered and rolled my eyes as we both had a small chuckle about it. “Oh,” I said excitedly, finding an abandoned building that used to be my favorite restaurant before the war. Now it was just dusty booths, skeletons sitting in their raggedy clothes in front of plates of moulded, rotting food. Silverware and plates, dirty, some slightly charred.

On the other side of the room where the roof had collapsed, I saw a wall safe in the top floor and grinned. I began walking up the stairs when MacCready piped up again. “Can’t we ever stumble into somewhere nice? You know. . .With flowers. . . Bright colors?”

“Sure,” I replied as he followed me up the stairs. “Let me just find a time machine and take you back to 2077.”

He snickered at my comment. “Ooh, hey look,” he spoke, pointing to the abandoned bed that had kept together to the left of the safe. “Want to take a little break?” He winked.

\--

“That. . . Was amazing. . .” MacCready breathily exhaled as he rolled out of bed after me. I smirked, kissing him on the lips before pulling myself off of the ground. We were lucky the second floor didn’t collapse any further with the way we were moving around on it. I slipped a bobby pin into the safe’s lock, my trusty screwdriver twisting the other end as I tried to find the lock’s sweet spot.

Once the bobby pin stopped budging, and I heard the click of the safe as it unlocked, I swung it open and looted its contents. 20 .45 rounds, 15 .305’s, $40 of pre-war money, and some jet. “Score,” I started to grab the ammo.

“Cute trick. You should teach me that sometime,” he complimented my lockpicking skills, but he scoffed as I picked up the pre-war money.

 

“Don’t make me carry that worthless crap!” he groaned, but I winked. He was going to carry it eventually, I’d put all of our junk in the workshop at Graygarden before I left as my constant worry that my settlements wouldn’t have enough supplies kept gnawing at me. 

“If I had a cap for every time you complained,” I cooed, turning my attention to him, my hand finding the contours of his cheeks as I gently touched his face, to his surprise. “I’d be filthy rich.”

He grinned, his hand on top of mine now. “And if I had a cap for every time you looked absolutely beautiful, I’d be rich.” 

I snickered. “Well, look who’s the charmer when we’re all alone?”

“I could say the same to you,” he spoke. “Although lately, you seem to be better with touching me in front of people,” he humored. “Ready to let people know you’re chumming up with the likes of me?”

I frowned at this joke. It wasn’t funny to me, and I didn’t find any humor that those kinds of words could come to his mind. “Hey,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “I’m not ashamed of you. If anything, you should be ashamed of me.”

“And that is where you’re wrong. I’m not ashamed of you. I plan on keepin’ you around for a while,” he said with a wink. 

I pursed my lips curiously. “Oh, a while? Hm. What’s a while for you?”

He grinned. “You’ll find out soon enough,” he said, he turned to the ledge of the second floor and walked down the collapsed ground, back to the first floor. I followed him quickly. Our little detour cost us an hour.

I guess you could say MacCready was a sixty-minute man.

\--

“Fuck! Yikes, oh gross,” I hissed as I tripped over a Supermutant suicider’s mangled torso. I took a large step away from it, bumping into MacCready, but when I did, I heard him clear his throat. He had a clear jar in his hands labeled “swear jar” on it. I groaned and fished a cap from my pocket, dropping it in the jar, which was already halfway full. There had to be at least twenty-seven caps in there.

This was how we were regulating my cussing. I didn’t want to slip up in front of Duncan, so I told MacCready he had to help catch me when I cussed. This method was not only his idea, but his absolute pleasure. If it wasn’t working so damn well, I would have regretted this. 

“You’re cleaning me out,” I sighed with a roll of my eyes. “What happens when I run out of caps?”

He grinned. “Well, I’m sure we can make some payment plans. You’ll probably be payin’ me off for the rest of your life.”

For the rest of my life. He was going to be here for the rest of my life.

“We’re going to need another jar,” I muttered, turning back towards the road as he snickered behind me, following. 

This was weird, being in a committed relationship, but he made me a better person, and that was worth more to me than all the caps in the world. I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else but him. 

“You’re gonna make me a rich man,” he mused. 

“You gonna take me out on a date with all that pocket change?” I asked as I walked in front of him, I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was watching the way I walked. I let my confidence soar, pleased to have the feeling of his eyes on me. “

“You, me, ribeye steaks, a red dress that shows off that beautiful body of yours, Magnolia’s voice in the background as you and I soak in each other’s company. . .” He sighed dreamily. “Sounds like the life to me.” I blushed, biting my lip to hold back a smirk as we continued walking.


	30. The End

We arrived at Graygarden, I began rummaging through my bag to find a purified water but I stopped when I saw MacCready begin walking towards Nora’s little rest stop home. I frowned, following him. “Why is it you always sit down whenever we find a place with chairs?” I asked.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Not all the time,” he pressed, but he relaxed and rolled his shoulders. “I uh, figured we could sit down for a while.” 

I smirked, folding my arms over my chest. “We ‘rested’ pretty hard before we got here,” I mused with a wink. His cheeks turned red as he turned towards the house to look at it before he turned back to me. “You just sit in there while I work on the turrets and plant some more mutfruits.” I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my wrist gently and pulled me into a kiss. 

“It’ll only be a minute. We walked for a few hours straight. Just sit down for one minute, it’s not gonna kill ya.” He said, his hand reaching for the doorknob, but he didn’t open the door just yet, his fingers resting upon it. 

He was right. I was exhausted, and I’d need a minute to unwind before I started working on such important equipment. “Fine, weirdo,” I joked, walking into the home first, frowning when I realized every surface had lit candles on it. “Oh man, Nora and Hancock must have passed through and left these burning,” I said. I started walking towards the couch, but MacCready pulled me to the center of the room. “What?” I asked with a frown.

“Remember last time we were here?” He asked, his fingers tracing the curve of my bottom lip. “Your first radstorm. I held you as if you were someone I knew, even though we had only just gotten used to each other. You didn’t like me all that much,” he laughed gently, “Or, at least you didn’t act like you did. I was trying to fight my attraction to you because I felt so guilty, I felt wrong moving on after Lucy, but. . . When I held you in my arms, and I felt. . .”

“Safe.” I whispered, my fingers reaching up to gently, slowly rub the small fleck of dirt off of his jawline. He smiled at my word, we both had the same feeling, the same reaction to each other, and I knew now that he was my other half, he had to be. He understood me more than anyone else I’d ever known.

“I didn’t know much about you, at first. I just knew you were not the type to make friends, and you were impulsive with an addictive personality. You spelled trouble, and yet when I held you in my arms, it felt like you belonged there. And then I got to know you, and I fell for you. I just felt so guilty, that maybe I was moving too fast with you, but. . . Everything I did with you, every moment spent, none of it felt like a mistake. And once I realized just how much you meant to me. . .I couldn’t ask for a greater gift. My heart was yours from the moment you told me about your time in the vault, and I was writing my vows in my head when you told me everything about you, your past, sharing things with me I know no one else knows, and I realized just how much we had in common. I realized just how much you cared about me, too, trusting me just as much as I’d grown to trust you. I accept you for all you were as you accept me. You’re an incredible woman, and I’d love nothing more than to wake up every morning, and go to bed every night, with you by my side.” he reached into his pocket and got onto one knee in front of me. 

“Hey, what’re you—“ he took a tiny drawstring pouch from his pocket, I froze, my jaw dropping. “Robert Joseph MacCready, this is not funny,” I huffed angrily. Pretending to propose to me now? Come on. I mean, this couldn’t be really happening, he must have been joking. 

He pulled a small object from the bag now, holding it up so I could see it under the light. A wedding ring. Oh my fucking God, he had an actual ring. 

“Betty,” MacCready spoke firmly, but I could see how nervous he was. My heart started pounding a mile a minute as I tried to process what was going on. “I—“ 

“Stop playing around,” There was no way he was being serious. Proposing? To me? “I’ll kick your ass, don’t think I won’t.” 

He laughed at this. “Betty, I love you, and I love everything about you, down to the smallest detail. and you mean the world to me, and I meant it when I told you that I planned on walking this Earth with you until the day I die.” He became red in the face now as he watched me, and the longer I stood there, speechless, the more uncomfortable he became. 

“Oh my God,” I finally breathed as I stared at the clean, golden banded ring in his dirtied hands. “Oh, my God,” I croaked. “Seriously?”

He rolled his head back and groaned jokingly. “The Railroad should have called you Charmer, because man, you are crushin’ it.” His sarcastic comment brought tears to my eyes now. He really wanted this of me? Me?

“Of course.” I breathed shakily. His eyes sparkled as I hurriedly, quickly blurted, “Yes! Of course. Yes.” I was trying to hold myself together as he slipped the ring onto my finger, staring down at the foreign object on my hand. I was never one for jewelry, and now here I was, ring on my finger. “How the hell did you find rings in the wasteland?”

He stood up, pulling me into a tight hug as I buried my face into his chest. “Nora gave them to me when she gave you the keys to Covenant,” he responded. “Told me she knew I had a thing for you. She also said she found them in Nuka World.” 

I blushed at this. “And you kept them?”

He smiled, pulling me into a long, heated kiss before pulling away. “I didn’t think I’d be ready for at least a few years, but Betty, I know I want this, and I hope you want this, too.” 

I laughed, happy, tears blurring my vision. “Of course, of course I want this.” Because it was him. Because it was the love of my life, and I wanted him around for the long haul, I wanted to call him mine, and I wanted to be his in return. But I couldn’t help but worry that maybe, maybe Duncan would not want me to be his step mother. 

Before I could make any comment or question the predicament, the door swung open to reveal Nora, who pulled in Hancock as they both hopped and clapped excitedly. I raised my eyebrow at them, questioning this random moment until RJ snickered at my puzzled face. “Who do you think brought and lit the candles before we got here? They’ve been waiting. We all pretended that Graygarden needed more fixing up to get you here without you knowing what we were planning.”

“Did you hear him propose?” I asked Nora, but she smirked wickedly, playful eyes dancing to a bashful RJ, to me, who was piecing together what she could have heard through the wall. 

“No, we didn’t. But, now we have the answer of why it took you a whole extra hour to get here,” Nora smirked, raising her eyebrows suggestively as Hancock looked at her with pure adoration. 

Ah, the comment I had made that made MacCready blush and look at the house. It was because he knew they were next to it, waiting for some sort of signal to start the celebration. 

“Deviants, I tell you,” Hancock joked, examining his lack of fingernails before I groaned and buried my face deeper into Mac’s chest. How embarrassing. RJ’s grip tightened on me and he kissed the top of my head, turning to look at Hancock. “Come on, sunshine,” he took Nora’s hand and kissed the top of it. “Let’s go back home. Shaun’s probably done with that new project of his, I’m sure he’ll want to show you.”  
I removed myself from MacCready’s embrace to hug Nora, a tight embrace, one that shocked her. She pulled away with a frown. “You both be careful out there, okay?” She said. 

“Hey, you, too, Nora,” RJ said, his serious, deep blue eyes examining her. “One day, I’ll bring you to see Duncan.” 

Nora bit her lip, she hesitated, her gaze shifting to Hancock who wordlessly stared at her with his black eyes before he nodded gently, encouraging her to say what she was thinking of saying, Hancock’s gaze shifting towards RJ as he straightened his back, he let go of Nora’s hand now.

Oh, a serious talk now.

Nora let out a soft sigh before she smiled, trying to find the right words to use. “Well, we were thinking that maybe, since Betty’s The General of The Minutemen now, that maybe you could stay in Sanctuary with Duncan? Shaun would love to meet him.”

RJ straightened his back now, the corners of his mouth sloping downwards. He didn’t like this, not one bit. “Nora, even if I had enough caps to bring him here, I don’t like the idea of my son being in reaching distance of anyone who has a grudge against me.”

She placed a hand on her hip, her eyes crinkled when she squinted. “MacCready, you were there when we killed Winlock and Barnes, right?”

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. “It doesn’t matter. They’re not the only gunners I worked with. I’ve also been a hired gun for a long time, I’ve probably made a few people’s lists already.” He shook his head and sighed. “The Capital Wasteland—That’s our safest bet.”

I quickly turned to him, eyebrows knitting together. Hancock cleared his throat. “Well, we’ll leave you both to it,” he said, taking Nora’s wrist. She didn’t seem to happy with RJ, she had a stern look on her face as Hancock gently turned her chin and faced her towards the door, pressing his hand against her rear to push her out, as he, without a hint of shame, gave it a little squeeze. 

But we were going to ignore that, as Hancock closed the door behind us, I sighed. “MacCready, I want to live in The Commonwealth. I don’t want to live in The Capital Wasteland. This is my home, it has been for over two hundred years,” I was heartbroken to hear that he was so dead set on staying in The Capital Wasteland. “And Nora’s right. I’m The General of The Minutemen. I have to stay.” My voice faltered as it turned into a whisper. I was ready for him to take back the wedding ring now, for him to tell me he needed someone who could live out there with him, but he kept silent for a long minute before he finally began to move his lips.

He studied the look on my face. “Is there any way you could reconsider?” I felt the anxiety kick in, I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly so very dry as I looked up at his face, his features, the contours of his sharp cheeks, the slight fullness of his lips, the soft, cleanly kept goatee I loved feeling along my skin. It felt like a knife was sliding into my chest. I was going to lose him, wasn’t I? Right when I had thought he had chosen me. 

“No,” I croaked, my lips were dry, my heart had already fallen into my stomach, and I could feel the unease start to make me nauseous. 

His fingers brushed my cheeks as he held my face in his hands now, cupping it, drawing me into him, those sweet lips of his connecting with mine, placing a soft, yet urgent kiss on my wanting mouth before he pulled away, rolling his lips in between his teeth, his tongue slightly poked between parted lips as he licked them. “Okay, well. . .” He removed his hat from his head, placing it on the table as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess with all the defenses and two Sentry bots you put it, I guess it’ll be safe. . . “

I blinked. Wait, what? He was going for this? Why? I did’t want to ask him why, I just wanted to reassure him, maybe this could work, maybe he’d finally agree to bring Duncan out here. “We also have our friends in Sanctuary. Cait, Danse, Nora, Hancock, Piper, Preston, Deacon. Hell, Strong would kill something if it did anything to inconvenience you,” I humored, remembering the look on RJ’s face as Nora brought home Strong, a big, green super mutant who somehow had no desire to slaughter all of the humans living in Sanctuary, but he instead talked about finding milk. He seemed dead set on it. He disliked just about everyone, but he really respected RJ for being a good fighter. “Curie is a great Scientist and a great Doctor. Duncan would be in safe hands if he ever got sick, if he ever needed medical attention she’d be there. And Nora would stop at nothing to take down any enemies that walk into Sanctuary. Duncan will be safe.” 

He tapped his chin, his eyes adverted towards the ground, eyes slightly closed as he pondered, mouth slightly ajar. “Huh.”

“My Minutemen are in constant patrols. We’ll know if any threats are heading our way. And Duncan will have Shaun to play with! Maybe Nat will finally decide to come visit when Piper does, and he could meet her, too.” My fingers began fidgeting with the ring on my finger. “Unless, you. . . Change your mind.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You know,” I began, but stopped short. I sighed. “If you don’t want to marry me—“

“I do want to,” he spoke firmly. “We’ll go to The Capital Wasteland. Spend a few days with Duncan before we announce everything to him. I’m still trying to figure out how to tell him about you being his—“ Step mother. He didn’t say the words, I could see that flash of guilt in his eyes, he shook his head, he took a step back now. “I don’t want him to think I’m replacing Lucy. . .” he whispered, and I could see him start to come undone. I recognized that look in his eye, he always fell apart whenever we talked about Lucy. I sat on the couch and pulled him into my embrace, holding him as he had held me when we first came here to Graygarden, trying my best to reassure him.

“Hey,” I soothed, I ran my fingers through his hair, I felt the fabric on my chest become slightly damp, and I knew he was crying. I knew this hurt him, and I didn’t want him to hurt anymore. “I—. . .” I wished Duncan had his mother, I wish she was able to watch him grow up, but she was robbed of that opportunity, and I instead had the opportunity. I never wanted Duncan to forget Lucy, I had made peace with the fact that he may never call me ‘mom,’ because that right went to Lucy, but I would love that boy and watch him grow up and I would try my best to be the kind of mom I’d imagine she’d be to him. “Baby,” I breathed, he relaxed at my touch at the sound of this pet name, uncharacteristic of me, but I loved the way he reacted, the way it calmed him down. “It’s okay, you’re allowed to move on. Let’s take this one step at a time. We’re not forgetting Lucy. I understand Duncan’s not my son, I’m going to be there for him regardless. Like all little boys, his dad’s probably his hero, and his dad loves me, so he’s sure to love me, too,” My other hand traced along his spine gently. 

He lifted himself from his position, his hands taking my face in his hands as he placed a soft kiss on the tip of my nose. “You’re right. It’d be impossible not to love you.” His thumbs caressed the tops of my hands, his beautiful blue eyes watched my green ones intently, a soft, warm feeling spreading along my face as I grinned at him. “Tomorrow, we’re going to head on our next big adventure,” he smiled excitedly. “We’re gonna introduce you to Duncan, and we’re going to move to The Commonwealth, and you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives together.”

I laughed gently, tears stinging my eyes as I let out a shaky, happy sigh. “That’s the best goddamn plan I’ve ever heard.”

He reached behind him, lifting the swear jar up as he rattled its contents, the loud rattle causing me to roll my eyes before I silently shook my head with a soft laugh, dropping a cap in the swear jar before we both started laughing.

Life couldn’t get any better than this. 

The End


End file.
